Until The Clouds Clear
by Faelai
Summary: They find that they are only themselves again when they are together.
1. Escape

Title: Until The Clouds Clear 

Author: Emily O'Donnell

E-Mail: Undothought@yahoo.com

Rating: R

Category: Alias

Timeline: Revisionist History Fic: What if Vaughn had gone with Sydney to Rome in Prelude? Canon for Season Three pertains.

Disclaimer: Characters belong to J.J. Abrams and ABC, not me. Though I bet all of you wish they did belong to me right? :)

Summary: Her world was unfamiliar and nothing was as she remembered. She found that she became someone else and so had he. Their roles have been reversed, black becoming white and they are lost in the shades of grey. They find that they are only themselves again when they are together.

"If you let this thing go, it's gonna burn, you're gonna take the whole world with you when you go." - lyrics by Lamb

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Chapter One:

Escape

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Sydney stood outside the airport terminal, the cold air biting into her flesh as she waited for Vaughn. Night was closing in around her, the cloak of darkness shrouded her already shadowed thoughts. The urgency in Vaughn's voice had scared her, shaken her to the core. Her life was in danger yet again, the NSC knew that she had killed Lazarey. There was no turning back now, it seemed that she was always running from the same men she worked for. Vaughn was always helping her run.

Vaughn. It seemed that her thoughts always returned to him, she missed him desperately. It had become a physical ache inside of her, a hole in her heart that he once filled. Seeing him with his wife every day was more painful than any torture she had endured. Sydney was strong, she knew that she was stronger than this, she struggled for so long to put him out of her mind, out of her heart but found it impossible. She had never loved anyone the way she loved him, not Danny, not Noah, no one. He was the other half that completed her and she had lost him to the tide of time and the waves of grief. A bitter taste rose in her throat and she blinked back tears that stung her eyes suddenly, what she wouldn't give to go back in time. As much as she hungered to find out the truth about her missing time, to destroy the Covenant, she hungered more for the simple touch of his hands. That touch could always soothe her pain, calm her troubled mind. 

He had been the only one he could trust for so long, at least that hadn't changed. His voice filtering through her phone had been the last thing she expected when she had gotten off the plane, but it had filled her with bittersweet joy. Until her mind had registered the fear in his voice and then she had known that once more, he was saving her life. She could not know it, but this moment that she lingered in would be one that would change her life forever.

As the thought of him filled her mind, a sleek black car slid up beside her and she turned quickly. The passenger side door was flung open and Vaughn leaned over from the driver's seat to look up at her. Wrinkled were etched into his forehead, fear written on every feature.

"Get in," he ordered and Sydney complied without a second thought. The sound of the door slamming reverberated through the empty terminal, followed closely by the sound of tires spinning as they sped away.

"How the hell did they find out?" Sydney demanded, she turned to look at Vaughn. His fists were clenched on the steering wheel, a cold tension coiled within him. She could see the fear in his eyes, the anger. He glanced at her and guilt flickered in his eyes.

"Sark told Lauren," he spoke through clenched teeth. She saw for the first time that his anger was not directed at her, but at his wife. Lauren had gone too far this time and they both knew it.

"Sark?" Sydney spit the name out like a curse and turned her eyes away from him, one hand coming up rub her eyes wearily. Vaughn shook his head, there was no time for questions and they both knew it.

"I have a plane waiting at Dover airfield. It will take you anywhere but you have to tell me where you want to go, someplace you know well so we can disappear."

"If the NSC wants to find me they will," bitter anger filled Sydney's voice and she looked at Vaughn.

"Sydney," Vaughn began but she cut him off. His last words finally registered in her mind.

"Wait," She glanced up at him and frowned. "What do you mean 'we'?"

He glanced over at her, his eyes were dark and troubled. "I'm coming with you," he spoke the words as if they were the most natural thing in the world. As if he would not be losing anything but running away with her, but he would. He would be losing everything and she knew that.

"Vaughn, I can't let you..."

"You're not letting me doing anything, I'm coming with you. Lauren knows that I came to help you and she already ratted you out, it wouldn't surprise me if she were to do the same to me. Besides, if you disappear, Your father and I will be the most likely suspects in the eyes of the NSC. This way, I can at least allow Jack to remain free. He is the only one who can clear your name." Vaughn spoke without meeting her eyes, determination in his voice. She recalled his words of so long ago, 'I believe in you.'

"What about Lauren?" Sydney asked, she could see the way his jaw clenched at the mention of his wife's name, his fingers tightened on the steering wheel, his knuckles turning white with tension.

"Lauren isn't what is important anymore," he said softly. He seemed to be speaking almost to himself, his gaze turned inward now. He could not look at her, could not bear to meet her eyes.

Sydney was stunned by his words, looking away from him she saw the world around her fading into a blur. This could be the last time she saw this airport, the last time she stood on the ground of the country she had defended countless times against enemies. Now the country had turned on her, she was not safe here and might never be safe again.

"What am I supposed to do now?" She demanded, she was still filled with anger but it had been soothed somewhat by his words. "Spend the rest of my life in hiding? I can't keep running forever."

"I'm going to do everything I can to make sure you won't have to," he looked at her for the first time, his eyes flickering briefly to her and back. There were secrets hidden in the murky depths of his gaze, she frowned and shook her head.

"There is something you're not telling me," she said. She could feel it as surely as she could feel the panic that gripped her heart. Vaughn sighed and swallowed hard.

"There is so much I can't tell you, Sydney," there was despair in his voice, threaded deep beneath the pain. "But I swear to you that I will try."

She stared at him for a long moment, waiting for him to continue but he didn't. She sighed heavily and shook her head, thinking quickly. Her fingers drifted across something cold and smooth in her pocket and gently, she fingered the edges of the key that Sloane had given her only hours earlier. She hated the idea of trusting Sloane but she had no choice, this could be her only chance to get some answers. Glancing back up at him she spoke with determination."Rome, I have to go to Rome." He didn't respond, couldn't bring himself to look at her, only pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and began to speak.

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The blanket of night had fallen over them as they stood together on the landing strip. There was a plane in the distance but for the moment, they could not move. They stood together, eyes locked in a silent battle of wills. Nothing held them apart, not the chains of time nor the shadow of death. Mistakes they had made lingered over their heads like a dark cloud, threatening to spill its contents on this moment and drown them in sorrow. 

"Vaughn, why are you doing this?" Sydney's eyes shimmered with tears and Vaughn could feel his heart breaking at the sight. He longed to reach out and gather her in his arms but he couldn't, not yet. There was too much yet to do, too much that had to be explained.

"My life is already a disaster," her voice cracked on the words. "If you come with me, yours will be too."

Vaughn shook his head and swallowed the lump that rose in his throat. "What happened between us, everything, the way it is isn't anyone's fault, Sydney." His eyes filled with tears and he blinked them away lest they spill over and reveal his true emotions.

"And even though everything has changed, some things don't," he murmured the words softly and she felt the tears burning her eyes, setting her soul aflame. Lifting her eyes to meet his, she gasped softly at what she saw hidden in the tortured green depths. He was filled with pain, sorrow, anger, bitterness but above all else she saw the love he had struggled to hide from her all this time. It blazed now in full force, warming the depths of her heart that had long since been chilled. She had seen it every now and then, since she had returned, the way his emotions slipped out to speak to her from his gaze. She always convinced herself that she could not feel their heat, that she had never seen that same look in his eyes when he made love to her late at night. She told herself that he reserved that look for his wife now, but deep in her heart she had seen the coldness in his eyes when he looked at Lauren. He never looked at any other woman the way he looked at her, she knew that in this moment with a clarity that was so pure and beautiful that it almost swept everything else away.

His next words washed away any doubt left in her mind, they were like a gentle breeze that drifted across her thoughts. Spoken so quietly but with such determination as he spoke to her with his eyes. He told her everything in his heart with those eyes, he always had.

"I'm not going to lose you twice," the words were almost a whisper and she swallowed hard. The way his voice cracked and broke open like his heart in the palm of her hand brought tears to her eyes. He loved her, that had never changed. 

Sydney let her composure drop, the tears spilling out from her haunted eyes. Sliding her arms around his neck, she embraced him tightly. Their bodies locked together, a perfect fit, as they always had. Her head nestled perfectly into the crook of his neck, his hands stroking her back in a gentle motion. For a moment, time stood still and nothing had changed. They were free to be themselves for the first time in so long, they were free to be who they truly were only when they were together.

At length, Sydney drew back and found her face inches from his. His breath hovered over her lips and she glanced from his mouth to his eyes. Swallowing hard, she forced a smile and slipped her hand into his. He clenched her hand tightly and smiled weakly in return.

"I suppose we better get going," she whispered. Vaughn nodded, relieved that she was going to allow him to come with her. He thought she would have put up more of a fight but he would not return to the CIA, he would not go back to the cold house where his emotionless wife waited. He would not live a lie any longer, he knew that now. 

Hand in hand, they picked up their bags and ran for the plane.

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	2. Promises

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Chapter Two:

Promises

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The heavy weight of the silence lingered over his head, pressing down upon him. It choked his breath as he struggled to push air out of his lungs. The phone was clutched tightly in his hand, knuckles cracking with a white pressure as they tightened over the thick black plastic. The voice of Robert Lindsey echoed in his ears, the message he had delivered making his stomach churn with disgust. His daughter had been placed in danger once more and there seemed to be nothing to he could do to help her. Lindsey had called him specifically to make sure he was not behind Sydney's escape from the country and to threaten that if he did have anything to do with it, he would be locked up faster than he could blink. Jack Bristow was not scared of the head of the NSC, he was not afraid for his own safety, only that of Sydney. He had been somewhat surprised to realize that the only person who could have helped Sydney was Vaughn, whose wife had been the one to turn her in. 

Jack stared into his dimly lit apartment with unseeing eyes, the papers spread out before him that he had been studying intensely only moments earlier were forgotten. The soft glow of the lamplight was now filled with shadows that gnawed at the edges of his skin, tearing away at his soul. His mind was racing, conceiving a hundred different scenarios of how to help his daughter and then discarding each as soon as he found the tiniest crack in the stone of his conscience. He didn't know where she was or if she needed him or not. He could only wait for her to contact him.

He wondered how long he would wait before he was forced to spring into action. A day perhaps or a few more minutes. He was already formulating a new plan even as he considered not making any. Perhaps he should contact Irina, she could protect Sydney, who was now a fugitive as Irina had been for years. Oh the irony of the whole situation. 

The phone ringing shrilly startled him from his thoughts, the plastic vibrating beneath the sweaty palm of his hand. He stared at it for a long second before taking a deep breath and clicking it on.

"Hello?"

On the other end of the line, Sydney breathed a sigh of relief at the sound of her father's voice. The plane was now high in the sky, safe over international waters. She smiled gently at the concern in her father's voice, she knew he had been worrying about her. She could feel Vaughn's eyes watching her but every time she glanced up at him, he looked away as if overcome with guilt. 

"Dad," her voice was surprisingly calm now considering the circumstances she was in. A sharp intake of breath on the other end of the line caused tears to spring to her eyes as her father cleared her throat.

"Sweetheart, where are you?" Jack was listening intently to the background noise, the low hum that was indicative of an airplane. 

"I'm safe dad," Sydney ran her fingers through her hair distractedly, she was still filled with unease, a sense of anxiety that she could not quell. She was safe for now but it was only a matter of time before that changed.

"Sydney, you have to tell me where you're going so I can come meet you."

"I can't tell you that, dad. The NSC is going to come down on you harder than ever if they find that you helped me escape and they are most likely monitoring you already. I won't put you in danger, you are the only chance I have to clear my name."

Jack had anticipated her response but that didn't mean he had to like it. "Will you be alright by yourself?"

Sydney hesitated, her eyes sliding up to where Vaughn sat before her. He met her gaze this time, did not look away, and she could see the fierce blaze in his eyes, the bottled sense of protection he had for her that had been held inside him for so long. For the first time in a long time, she knew that she wasn't alone.

"I'm not by myself, dad," the words were a low whisper that raced through the air to meet Vaughn's ears. He gazed at her steadily, the corners of his lips twitching up slightly. He wanted to gather her into his arms and thank her for having some faith in him after all he had done.

Jack could sense what was happening on the other end of the line, hundreds of miles away, he could see them so clearly in his mind. Seated on the plane, across from each other, never touching but making, slow silent love with those longing glances stolen when no one was looking. 

"Vaughn is with you," Jack sighed softly and dropped his head into his hands. He could see all the walls he had constructed over the past two years slowly crumbling, falling apart, brick by brick. This was the most important and it was on the verge of collapsing permanently. He wondered if it wouldn't be better for everyone involved if it did.

The long silence on the other end of the line answered his question that never really needed an answer. He had already known, he could see Sydney in his mind's eye staring at Vaughn. His eyes burning with love that he struggled to hide but as good as Michael Vaughn had become at lying over the past two years, he could never lie to Sydney. She saw right through him, Jack could only hope that it would be over soon.

"Yes," Sydney's answer was no more than a breath that Jack could practically feel as tangible in the air before him though it entered his ear through the cell phone. He nodded slowly though he knew she could not see him. When his next words were spoken, he had rid himself of all emotion and hardened his voice into the commanding tone that scared so many younger agents into submission.

"Let me speak with him."

Sydney frowned and felt her heart lurch in her breast, though she knew her father could do Vaughn no physical harm from a cell phone, he could do plenty of other damage. However she knew better than to argue with him when he sounded like that so wordlessly she held out the phone to Vaughn. He stared at her, forehead wrinkling in confusion, Sydney shrugged at his unspoken question.

"He wants to speak with you," she said softly. Fear leapt into Vaughn's eyes and Sydney almost snatched the phone away at the sight of it. Vaughn had never been afraid of her father, nervous and unsure, yes, but visibly afraid was a different matter. There was something in his eyes that she could not identify and it scared her, shook her deeply. She watched as he swallowed hard, the lump in his throat rising and fading. The fear diminished greatly and he nodded, taking the phone from her. Their fingers brushed as his hand closed over hers and Sydney felt a spark of heat ignite under her skin. She was surprised that their combined touch did not melt the plastic of the phone with its intensity. Their eyes locked and she gazed for a long moment into the swirling depths of those green eyes she had loved for so long. There was so much written there that she could not begin to fathom what it said but she was beginning to get an idea.

With visible effort, Vaughn tore his eyes away and lowering them, stood and moved away from her. He lifted the phone to his ear and Sydney could see the way his hand trembled as he did so. There was something else going on, a missing piece that she could not yet identify. But she would solve this mystery just as surely as she would solve the others that had overtaken her life.

Vaughn was speaking softly, she could not make out his words and he moved further away from her. She realized that he didn't want her to hear the conversation and she frowned, what was he hiding from her and why? He had secluded himself at the back of the plane and soon she could no longer hear him at all, he must have gone into the bathroom to speak. Sydney had to fight the urge to follow him and listen in on what he was saying but something inside of her stopped her from doing so. She had the feeling that whatever it was, Vaughn would reveal to her in due time, or else she would force it out of him. 

Sydney sank back into her seat and sighed heavily, there seemed to be a world of burdens that had been laid upon her shoulders. Its weight was holding her down, smothering her slowly with an uneasy sense of oppression. She craved her freedom from these burdens, longed to be whole again but it would never happen until she discovered the truth about what had happened to her. The truth about what she had done. 

She leaned her forehead against the cool glass of the window and gazed out. The world outside was obscured by waves of misty clouds that stretched out as far as she could see. The clouds were small puffs of white shining in the dark night, the way they rolled in the deep blue of the sky reminded her of the ocean. She knew the deep waters were hundreds of miles below her but the way the sky outside looked, it seemed like they were in a submarine, caught below the waves. As if the sky had become the ocean and perhaps the ocean had become the sky, it would not surprise her, so much else had become upside down and inside out since she had returned to the world of the living. The sky outside was empty and yet filled with a deep darkness that was echoed inside of her. The plane made a temporary passage through the clouds, never lingering for too long like so many people and moments in her life. They never lasted for long, passing quickly and leaving only an empty space where it had been.

She was roused from her musings by the presence of Vaughn who settled into the seat beside her. He made no noise, no movement to disturb her but she knew that he was there. His energy crept over her, sinking into her flesh and uncovering the roots he had planted into her heart so long ago. He let out a soft sigh in unison with her own breath that fogged the glass of the window, obscuring her reflection and changing her into a shadow of herself.

"Sydney," he whispered her name with such tenderness that stole her breath from her lungs. She turned her head to look ahead but she could not face him, tears burned her, the lump in her throat making it impossible to speak. She missed him so much, the loving way he spoke to her, the sound of her name spilling from his lips, that look in his eyes, it was like nothing had changed. 

She gasped when she felt his fingers touch her face, gently grasping her chin and turning her to face him. His fingers trailed fire across her flesh, leaving a deep crimson blush where he had touched her. She looked everywhere but into his eyes, at the leather of his jacket that gleamed under the overhead light, the curve of his neck where she knew he loved to be kissed. She wondered if his wife knew that secret, knew all of the little tricks that caused him to melt in her hands. Her eyes drifted over the stubble on his chin, the softness of his lips that were parted and prepared to speak, the prominent nose that she loved so much, she allowed her eyes to settle there, unable to look into those depths and see a lie written there.

"Sydney, look at me," he spoke so softly that it felt like a thousand feathers were stabbing her heart. When she did not heed his words, he sighed softly and let his hand drop to cover her own. 

"Listen, there is so much I need to tell you, so many things that I need to explain but know this," he smiled gently, pain in his eyes as she finally conceded to look into his eyes, startled into this small action by his words. "There is no excuse for how I've treated you since you've been back." The pain that had been hidden in her flared up, he could see it in the darkened depths of her eyes, where he would gladly drown in order to make her happy. Swallowing hard, he shook his head and continued, voice husky from unshed tears. 

"I don't expect you to forgive me and I wouldn't even want you to until I can prove myself to you again. I just hope that you'll trust me, have faith in me because everything I have done in the past four years, everything, has been for you."

Sydney frowned and opened her mouth to speak, she could read the truth in his eyes, but the implication of his words puzzled her. He smiled gently at her, his broken heart bleeding on his sleeve and she shook her head. This was not the time for their confessions and they both knew it. They had to determine a course of action. He was offering to tell her everything right now if she asked, but the pain of the telling would be too much for him in this state. She could see it in his eyes, there was something weighing him down as surely as her own secrets wore on her. There would be a time for confessions, to clear the air of the ghosts that lingered, but this was not it. Now was the time to prepare for the next step of the journey.

"I have always trusted you, Vaughn," she took a deep breath and attempted to calm her trembling hands. "I always had faith in you until that day in Hong Kong," her eyes lowered to his hand, expecting to find his wedding ring on his finger but it was not there. She frowned and looked up at him, eyes wide with shock and he shook his head.

"Have faith that I am trying to protect you, Syd. I'm trying to help you."

She took a deep breath and swallowed hard, nodding gently. "Thank you."

He shook his head, unable to speak for a long moment as he felt the lump rise in his throat. After the wave of sorrow had passed over him, he cleared his throat to speak again.

"What's in Rome?" He asked. Sydney fished in her pocket and withdrew a small silver key and held it up.

"Apparently I was in Rome for awhile, at least, Julia Thorne was. Sloane gave me this earlier tonight and told me that I had sent it to him, the handwriting on the envelope was mine. Along with it was an address of an apartment in Rome, I need to go and see if there are any more clues. It seems that I left myself a trail of clues before my memory was erased as to who I was, something I did." Sydney shook her head and looked at Vaughn, "I don't know what."

Vaughn frowned and took the key from her, inspecting it carefully. "You sure you can trust Sloane?"

Sydney shook her head and frowned, "Under different circumstances, I wouldn't. But it seems that I have very little choice in this matter. This could be the last chance I have to find out what happened to me before the NSC locks me away and leaves me brain dead. I need to know, Vaughn."

He looked up at her and could see desperation hidden in her eyes. She had been struggling to maintain the semblance of a normal life two years ago, it was the last thing she had known. Now it had all fallen in on her. Her world had come shattering down around her, she had nothing left but this drive to discover the truth. He squeezed her hand and smiled softly at her, "We'll find out, Sydney. I promise you that."

She smiled and squeezed his hand in return, tears filling her eyes. She laid her head on his shoulder and sighed softly, no words needed to explain this feeling. He stroked her hair gently and laid his head against hers.

"Get some rest, you'll need it for the morning."

She sighed, the breath tracing a course across his flesh and closed her eyes. Vaughn stared into the empty plane, eyes unseeing, blind to everything but the woman at his side.

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	3. Shrouded In Silence

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Chapter Three:

Shrouded In Silence

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The early morning light seeped in through the haze of sleep, illuminating her dreams with an eerie clarity she had never known before. In this realm of unconsciousness, between dreaming and waking life, her mind drifted past all barriers and memory. 

He was standing before her, blood staining his flesh, eyes dark with agony as he gazed at her. The expression on his face was cold, emotionless, detached from the world inside of him. But his eyes, they showed the true depth of emotion lost in a swirling green pool. She wondered if anyone else could see it, her father, his new partner, the men he was fooling so well. But she could see it as clear as anything else in the world and she knew what it meant.

He stretched his hand out to her, the gentle fingers that stroked her back when she was in pain were stained with blood. She wondered how much of it was his own, a jolt of fear shot through her at the thought. His lips were forming words that she could not hear but she could recognize the shape of her name forming.

"Julia," he breathed. "Remember who you are, who I am. What we were to one another." His eyes were pleading with her, "Don't you know me, Sydney?"

She stared at him in shock, the sound of her name on his lips was the most blessed noise she had ever heard. But the way he spoke it, so filled with despair. She tried to reach out to him but her hands were stained with blood, their skin could not connect beneath the filth of the lies and deceit. She struggled to hold onto him but she was falling, his voice whispered in her ears.

"Sydney...Sydney. Sydney!"

Her eyes snapped open, clashing instantly with the same familiar green eyes of her dream. She stared into them in wonder, she could see the same despair that had been so prevalent in her dream hidden deep in the depths now. She stared at him, wondering what it meant. 

He was kneeling on the floor of the plane before her, she realized that they were no longer in the air. They had most likely just landed, the early colors of the twilight were just beginning to filter down from above. His hand was on her knee and she looked down at it, feeling the heat of his palm send a rush of warmth through her skin. He had been reaching out for her, but there was no blood on his hands now.

Noticing the shift of her gaze, Vaughn drew his hand away slowly. The slow way his palm dragged over her thigh was like a caress and she shuddered slightly, the physical pleasure mixing with her inner pain. 

"We're here?" It was not really necessary for her to ask but she needed to speak, to distract them both from the attraction that seemed to consume them both. To distract her from the disturbing dreams that troubled her mind. 

Vaughn nodded slightly and backed away from her, how he managed to avert his eyes and yet continue to stare at her she would never know. It was a trick he had managed to achieve when they had been in the earliest stages of relationship. When they had been just handler and asset, never able to look at one another except in stolen glances. He had perfected the art of looking at her in secrecy but she had long ago learned to recognize when he was doing so. 

There had been a time when they had no longer needed to know that technique, both had given it up gladly and now it seemed they were back to square one. The irony was that their relationship had somehow been simpler then. When they could have both been killed at any minute by Sloane and the Alliance, now they were simply killing themselves very slowly by denying what they both hungered for with all of their souls.

Vaughn dropped a small bag on the seat beside her and for the first time she really looked at him, as he was in this moment, not in her memory or in her dreams. She hadn't noticed that he had been in disguise and she suppressed the sudden urge to laugh. His hair was combed down, parted in the middle. She didn't even know that his hair could manage a straight line going through it, she had thought it was perpetually sticking upright and had preferred it that way as well. He slid on a pair of thick black glasses and was wearing nondescript clothes. 

"Your disguise, it was all I could find but it should work," he gestured at the bag and Sydney nodded, hiding a small smile. Rummaging through the bag, she withdrew a long red-haired wig, she was relieved that the color was at least a believable shade of red. It seemed every time she was a redhead, it was some shade of neon red never found in nature. Inspecting the wig, she nodded in approval and looked up at Vaughn.

"Thank you," she said softly, her voice still raspy from sleep. He shrugged and looked at his watch. "Our car will be here in ten minutes."

He watched her momentarily as Sydney pulled her disguise from the bag and then without another word, walked silently back down the corridor, allowing her some privacy. She smiled softly and watched him go, but her mind kept seeing his face stained with blood and tears. He had been trying to tell her something, it had been so real. His hand slipping from hers, the blood that stained them both. It might have been her unconscious mind trying to tell her something about her relationship with Vaughn but she felt that it was not nearly that simple. There was too much that she was missing, too much she didn't know.

From the end of the hallway, Vaughn watched her with intensity. There had been something in her eyes, something he recognized. There was too much to be done and he could no longer bear this silence he carried with him like a shroud of mourning. The silence was his shroud for Sydney, it was time for it to be discarded.

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"This is it," Sydney breathed the words, lost on the wind to anyone but the man beside her, who was watching her intently. She was aware of his eyes on her but she could not face him, could only stare at the numbers on the door before her. They gleamed with a dull sheen in the dim hallway light and Vaughn fidgeted nervously beside her, eyes sweeping up and down the empty hallway for anyone who might spot them. 

They were heavily disguised, a precaution Vaughn had made sure to take now that they were running from their own government. However there was still always a chance that they had been spotted and it was growing more and more likely with every moment they lingered. The long red hair of Sydney's wig brushed his fingers as he touched her arm in concern, his eyes flickering from the pained confusion evident on her face to the lock on the door where her fingers held the key, trembling, over the lock. Gently, he placed his hand on her own and slid the key into the door, she nodded slightly and recovered herself. Vaughn followed her inside as she automatically held out one hand to flip on the light switch. She paused at her own action and glanced at the switch as if verifying it was there. 

Vaughn shut the door softly behind them and she glanced up at him, her eyes wide and sliding from him to the room in a slight bewilderment. Shaking her head, she circled the room, tracing her fingertips along the surface of simple objects. She had obviously lived here and not too long ago, she could recognize the decor as being her taste. It had a cozy feeling to it and standing inside her apartment, she felt somewhat comfortable and yet completely foreign. 

Vaughn took a seat at the table, watching her intently as she paced the length of the room. He did not speak and she did not seem to notice him, but they were highly attuned to the presence of the other. He could practically hear her thoughts echoing in his own head. Questions on her lips that one of them had answers to and he was no longer sure which one it was. The sight of her pacing nervously, hands clenched together, knuckles turning white with the force of her own grip, made his heart ache. He watched her and he waited for it to come.

She stopped suddenly and let out a low sigh, scrubbing her hands across her weary eyes and flopping backward onto the bed. When her eyelids fluttered open again, they drifted across the ceiling and then suddenly widened with shock. She sat bolt upright with a horrified gasp and shot away from the bed. Vaughn was waiting for her, standing beside the bed, arms open and waiting for her to dart into them fearfully. 

Closing his arms around her gently, he stroked her back and murmured softly. "What is it?"

"I saw it in a dream," Sydney whispered. Regaining her sense of composure, she pulled away from him and lifted her eyes once more to the ceiling. Vaughn followed her gaze to see a stone angel reaching down from another rooftop, easily seen through the glass of the window. He nodded slightly and touched her shoulder gently.

"You remember this place?" He asked, she could hear the concern in his voice. He didn't like this anymore than she did, the way his fingers tensed on her shoulder at the slight trembling of her flesh. She knew that she had to regain control of herself, but she could feel herself slowly unraveling.

She shrugged slightly in answer to his question, "I remember bits of it from dreams, my subconscious remembers habitual things like where the light switch is, the bathroom, the bed."

"You said that you think you left yourself clues from when you were Julia Thorne. Is it possible that you left yourself a clue that you wouldn't remember finding but would find by doing this ritual things?"

Sydney frowned and nodded slowly, "It sounds like something that I would do." She bit her lip in contemplation and crossed the room, Vaughn following her silently as a shadow. Opening another door, she flipped on the light switch with the instinctive ease as she had the first. Vaughn tried to breathe easier but he couldn't, something was lurking in the back of his mind, a sixth sense he had honed over many years that was troubling him.

Sydney opened the cabinet behind the mirror and automatically reached for one of prescription pill bottles within. Holding it up, she could read the name on the label as Julia Thorne. 

Frowning slightly, she shut the cabinet door and looked up to see Vaughn's face twist from one of fearful curiosity to a mask of rage. He whirled around behind her and Sydney gasped, unsure of what was happening. Turning quickly, she dropped the pill bottle to the floor and it opened with a small. Small white pills bounced across the tiled floor and a small plastic tube.

Vaughn was grappling with a large man, clothed in black, Sydney recognized the uniform as that of the Italian police force and she cursed under her breath. She snapped herself out of her momentary confusion and took a step forward to help Vaughn. In the length of time it took her to take that step, between the space of a heartbeat and the catching of breath in the throat, Vaughn had somehow twisted out of the man's grasp and pinned him to the floor. Picking up the rifle the other man had dropped, Vaughn struck him swiftly in the head, knocking him unconscious.

Sydney frowned in confusion as Vaughn glanced at her briefly, the scuffle could not have lasted longer than ten seconds. His eyes were veiled by a dark haze, no thought penetrated, nothing but pure instinct. She had seen the same look in her own eyes, reflected in the dying spark of life of men she had killed. 

She had seen that look in his eyes only once before, in her dream that morning. She froze and stared at him, her entire body tense. Vaughn glanced at her quickly, reassuring himself that she was okay. Without a word, he spun on his heel, rifle in hand, and sped into the other room.

Sydney snapped into action, everything was backwards, this was not how it was supposed to go. Normally she was the one saving his ass. She let her training take over and forgot all emotion, all other thought but the fact that they were in danger and had to get out.

She was on Vaughn's heels as he slid to a stop in the outer room, the front door banged open and men came pouring through. They were shouting in Italian at them but neither Sydney nor Vaughn paid them any heed. Vaughn's eyes swept over the group only once and then he snapped into action. Leaping forward, he grasped the muzzle of one of the rifles that the men pointed at them and shoved it hard back into the man's chest. Still gripping the muzzle, he twisted around and swung one leg up, kicking the rifle out of the hands of the next assailant and knocking him over. Several of the men went down in a matter of seconds, taken by surprise. With an expert maneuver, Vaughn flipped the rifle over his shoulder and fired at a man who was coming up behind him. Not once did he look to see the man, not even after he had slumped to the floor in silence. 

Sydney grasped the rifle of one of the fallen men and let out a spray of bullets across the men. Moans of pain rose to her ears as they dropped to their knees, falling face first to the floor. Vaughn rose up behind each of them that still lived, death blazing in his eyes. 

The policemen were accustomed to brute force, not this clever hand to hand combat, reacting sluggishly to Vaughn's actions. He was darting between them swiftly, taking them down with simple maneuvers as Sydney fought off the few who had slipped past him. The gunfire slowed slightly and Sydney leapt up, rolling across the bed to avoid the spray of bullets, firing back at her enemies as she did so. 

She felt something strike her hard on the back of the head and she swayed slightly, her eyes landing on the cruel face of one of her assailants. She felt fuzzy and gazed at him weakly, anticipating the surge of adrenaline that would fill her in a matter of seconds and provide her with the strength to get away from him. Those few seconds could be fatal however. 

Her eyes slid toward Vaughn and as if he could feel the heat of her gaze on him, he glanced over at her. Their eyes locked, time could have stopped in that instant and neither would have known. They were both fighting men twice their size but at this moment, neither were aware of what precisely they were doing to stay alive, all they knew was each other. She could see a whirlwind inside of him, barely contained beneath the implacable facade that kept him moving, fighting for his life. It was a split second, nothing more, and then the world rushed back into place.

Kicking the man who rose up before him in the face, Vaughn rolled backward onto the bed and landed on the floor behind it in a low crouch. Sydney cried out as the meaty hand of the officer closed around her throat, choking her breath away, the cry died in her throat. Desperately, she kicked outward, her feet catching nothing but air as he twisted away from her legs and then wrapped his arms around them. He held her tightly in a death grip, struggling to force her to her knees as he grappled with the handcuffs at his belt. She twisted in his grasp and her head banged hard against the floor, spots swam in her vision and then everything fell silent. The tension eased from her throat. 

Before she could even begin to comprehend what had happened, the gunfire had ceased, the man who stood over jerked in pain. A spray of blood shot from his temple, burning her with its fading heat. His eyes rolled back in his head and he slumped to the floor, his heavy body falling over her. He was dead before his head touched the floor. 

Sydney gasped and twisted away from him. Standing before her was Vaughn, his gun in hand, the barrel smoking slightly. He was staring into the space where the man had just stood, eyes fixed on nothing. Standing, Sydney wiped the blood from her face and glanced around at the room with wide eyes. The men were all dead, the air had become thick with the silence of death that hovered like a tangible presence in the room. Death had come for these men, Sydney had often been the hand of death in the past, leaving many rooms filled with bodies similar to this in order to survive. But this time was different, this time she had not done it. Death had come for these men, and it came through the hand of Michael Vaughn.

Sydney shivered slightly and wrapped her arms tightly around herself, struggling to avert her eyes from the dead policemen on the floor. Raising her eyes to Vaughn, she watched as he calmly wiped the blood from his gun on the shirt of one of the men and place it back in its holster at his side. At length he lifted his eyes to meet her questioning gaze and she found the cold mask had vanished. His eyes were filled with pain and a deep secret that lingered hidden in the depths. It was a voice begging to be heard, a truth that longed to be revealed. 

"Are you okay?" He asked her, his voice was low and husky. Filled not with fear, but concern. Sydney nodded in silence, still too overwhelmed by all that had just happened. Her voice seemed trapped in her throat still, the cry that had been cut off by the man longed to escape. Wind its way into the air, shrill and harsh and filled with fear. She had no idea what had just happened, who Vaughn had become before her unknowing eyes. She felt as if she gazed now on a stranger, but when those pleading eyes turned to her, she saw him once more.

"Vaughn," her voice was nothing more than a whisper, a current moving through the air. "What the hell just happened?"

"Someone must have spotted us between the airport and here, we're going to have to get out of here as soon as we can." Vaughn grimaced and kicked a dead body out of his way, "We'll have to search the apartment quickly, can't afford to leave anything behind." He stepped away, turning his back to her and Sydney shook her head.

"No, Vaughn. What happened with you?" She knew that she had struck a nerve by the way his body immediately went tense. The muscles in his back were rigid with contained pressure and it seemed that he might explode at any moment but from what, she could not know.

"The way you fought those men," she shook her head in disbelief as she looked around the room. "I barely even had a chance to lay a finger on them and I'm a field agent. I was trained at the age of six to know how to fight like this. Where the hell did you learn how to do that?" She felt as if she were shouting in the deathly stillness of the room but could not be sure. Vaughn remained very still, he could have been carved out of marble and moved more than he was at that moment. Very slowly he turned to face her and she was shocked to see tears on his face.

Quickly he crossed the room and pulled her to him, her head colliding softly with his chest. With as much force as he exhibited, the strength in him that scared her a bit since she had no idea where it had come from, he was still as gentle as he had ever been with her.

"I told you Sydney, some things have changed, so many things I need to explain." He pulled away from her and met her eyes, studying her intently. "But now is not the time, we have to get out of here as soon as we can but we can't leave the clues behind."

Sydney stared up at him, fear gnawing a ragged hole in her heart. His hands slipped on her skin, slick with blood, his eyes were filled with a dark agony that she could not place. It was the second time in one day she had seen this darkness in him. There was something he was not telling her, something he feared. He was doing so much to protect her but doing so little to maintain his own well being. 

A familiar rush of love washed over her as she stared up at him, easing the claws of fear that had sunk into her heart. She nodded slightly and pulled free from his arms. He was right, he was thinking rationally whereas she felt like she was about to dissolve into tears where she stood. She was never this weak, he was never this strong, something was wrong here. Something within them needed to be balanced very badly and she knew that they could only do that for one another.

Wiping the blood from her hands, she turned away from him and began to search the apartment.

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	4. Dropping The Mask

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Chapter Four

Dropping the Mask

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He could feel her eyes on him as he moved through the apartment, methodically checking any obvious spot they could think of. In the bed, closets, drawers. Vaughn moved carefully, aware of her questioning gaze. He could scarcely see the objects before him, moved around them with the simple ease of someone who has been here many times before. His thoughts were veiled with darkness, he had never been forced to hide anything from her before. He feared telling her the truth, he had already hurt her so badly since she had returned. He had felt guilty since that day over a year ago when he and Jack had discovered the truth.

He held his thoughts carefully contained, though he was amazed that she could not see right through him. He would have never even thought of lying to her two years earlier, before it had all begun. So much had happened to them, so much had changed. They had both been living a lie for so long that it had become part of them, they were strangers to one another on the outside. But caged within each of them was the memory of their true selves, something he had kept hidden for so long. It rose up to become part of each of them again when they were around one another, on a mission, fighting side by side, they became who they used to be. 

He was still trying to protect her but he had moved from the desk and headset to the nitty gritty of what it entailed to survive. He had killed those men without a second thought, something he would never have done before he lost her. When he had lost her, he had lost so much of himself. He had lost everything that made him human, they had scattered on the wind with her ashes. He had become what he had to be to survive, to discover a meaning to life. He was so close now to the end of it all, no more lying, no more pretending to be someone he was not, loving someone who repulsed his very soul. 

When she returned to him, it had all rushed back. The man he used to be was lost somewhere inside of him and came to the surface only when her eyes met his, when her skin brushed his, when she spoke to him with love in her voice.

His fingers brushed the edge of paper and he came back to himself, seeing where he stood with a clear gaze. A quiet apartment, dead men surrounding him, there was easily a dozen, maybe more. He wasn't sure how many he killed, ten maybe, without any thought except for Sydney. The morning light was shining in through the window, Sydney was moving behind him quietly, the sounds of her search met his ears as she pulled open drawers, ripped out clothes with some degree of uneasiness. They were her clothes and she had just left them there as if she'd known she would return. And perhaps she had known, only Sydney did not know now. 

Vaughn pulled the paper out from under the table and frowned as he inspected it. Inside was a code written in Sydney's familiar hand.

"Found something," Vaughn turned to her and held up the note. Sydney stopped in mid motion and turned to him, his breath caught in his throat as she looked at him. She was flushed with exertion, her eyes burning bright with confusion, anger, frustration. Vaughn stepped closer to her and grasped her hand, placing the note between outstretched fingertips.

Sydney frowned as she studied the code, she swallowed hard and shook her head. "I don't recognize it," her words were tinged with an edge of desperation. She was trying so hard to remember and yet she couldn't, there were clues everywhere but she couldn't decipher them. 

Vaughn placed one hand gently on her shoulder, his touch calming the anxious knot of hysteria that threatened to well up within her. She had gone through a lot, but standing on the edge of the truth and unable to comprehend it was almost too much for her. She couldn't even allow herself to imagine what might have happened to her had not Vaughn been here.

"There's a book here," Vaughn had turned away and was looking through the drawer she had not yet explored. Sydney's attention drew away from the note to the slim journal he held in his hand. Sydney's eyes lit up and she grasped the book eagerly, flipping open the pages to read what was held within.

Her face darkened and she flipped through the book in confusion, "It's blank," she heaved a frustrated sigh and handed the book back to Vaughn. Spinning on her heel, she strode rapidly into the bathroom, Vaughn following quietly as he stepped over the dead bodies.

Sydney dropped to her knees on the tiled floor and began searching the floor amidst the scattered pills. Her fingers came across the small tube that had bounced out of the bottle when she had dropped it. Holding it up to the light, Sydney found a small crack that opened the tube. Inside was a small scroll, with a similar code written on it. Sydney stared intently at it and shook her head, "What is this code?"

"I recognize it," Vaughn's voice was somewhat hesitant behind her and she spun to her feet, facing him. He met her eyes briefly, finding them full of fire and he was burned. Looking away, he approached her and took the scroll from her hand. "It's a cipher code your mother devised.

Sydney stared at him, aghast. "How would you know that?"

Vaughn bit his lip and met her gaze steadily, "Your father and I used a similar code when we were in contact with your mother last year."

Sydney felt as if the knife in her heart had just sunk in a little deeper, "What?"

Vaughn turned away and gathered the evidence they had found, "We have to go Sydney, we've found all we're going to find."

"Vaughn!" Sydney followed him, a storm raging in her eyes. "I want an explanation, and I want it now!"

Vaughn spun on his heel, Sydney could see the anger that tensed his muscles, blazed in his eyes. Yet the anger was fueled by a burning shame, he was not angry with her.

"You think that when you died, I just gave up on you!" His words were spoken with a quiet intensity that surprised her and shook her to the core. "Everyone thinks that, but it's not true Sydney!" He came close to her and gripped her shoulders, she was startled to see tears burning his eyes and a deep sorrow. "Jack and I investigated your death together, when he was arrested for being in contact with your mother, I had to lie low. I couldn't get caught because we had come too far! There was too much at stake!"

Sydney stared at him, "What was at stake, Vaughn?" Her heartbreak was evident in every word she spoke, she could not dare to hear the implication of these words but she knew that she had to.

Vaughn let go of her and closed his eyes, "Your life was at stake, Sydney."

She stared at him, silence filling the space between them. There was too many thoughts that were running through her head, too many questions, conflicting emotions. She couldn't begin to voice any of them aloud. She stared at him, the man she loved so deeply and wondered what he had done to protect her. Whatever it was had hurt him deeply, the mask he had presented to her for the past few months had fallen away. She was seeing the new layers that had built up over the course of two years. 

Sydney just shook her head and strode past him, "We have to get out of here, Vaughn."

He snapped into action at her words, his eyes opened at gazed at her in confusion. He had expected a different reaction, any reaction, but had received none. He shook his head and brought himself back to the moment.

"There is one place in Italy where I think we would be safe, its in Naples, we can drive there."

Sydney nodded and gathered up the clues, "Good. On the way you can explain yourself." She turned to him and found him inches away from her, a breath hovering between them. She caught herself and gazed up at him steadily, she would not succumb that soft gaze. She had a right to some answers, they both knew that.

Slowly Vaughn nodded his head, "Okay."

Without another word, they both turned to make yet another escape, together.

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Jack Bristow sat in an empty parking garage, darkness filling the space around his car. The small computer screen illuminated his face as it sat open on his lap, fingers tapping idly on the keys as he waited.

A message appeared on his screen, she had come. "How are you, J?"

Jack breathed a sigh of relief, sometimes she did not come and he was left waiting all night. "Good," he typed in response. "But our daughter needs your help."

"Where is she?" Irina asked. Jack typed only a question mark in response, he still did not know. When Irina did not respond for a moment, Jack typed a new message.

"M is with her."

Irina's reply was instant this time, latching onto his words with some degree of alarm. "Is it time already?"

"He believes so. They may be coming to you."

"No need," Irina typed back. "I will find them."

"Good." Jack hesitated, his fingers hovering over the keys as he pondered the implications of this conversation. "Contact me when you do."

"I will...love you." Irina's words appeared on screen as if filled with hesitation. Jack smiled softly at the screen and typed back.

"Love you too." The screen went dark and Jack was left alone in the empty garage, with only his thoughts to consume him. 

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	5. Secrets And Lies

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Chapter Five:

Secrets and Lies

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Sydney awoke in the shadows, she was in a small unfamiliar room, stretched out on a bed. Shifting into an upright position, she rubbed her eyes wearily and glanced around the room. A frown creased her face and she shook her head, struggling to remember how she had gotten here. Glancing down at herself, she saw that she was no longer wearing the disguise Vaughn had provided for her. Clad in a tank top and sweatpants, her choice pajamas, she had been tucked into the bed carefully. 

Fumbling at the table beside her, she located a lamp and switched it on. The light blinded her momentarily, eyes shutting against the brightness that consumed her suddenly. Blinking rapidly, her vision cleared and she saw Vaughn seated at the foot of the bed. He had obviously been watching her and had fallen asleep in the process. He was slumped over the edge of the bed, one hand stretched out toward her as if he was reaching for her subconsciously. 

She took a moment to study him in his quiet repose, the wrinkles in his forehead were clear, his expression serene. There was no darkness in his face, no threat in the way he held himself, he was like a child who had gone to sleep after a nightmare. He was holding onto her, the one person who could soothe the fear of the nightmares away.

Gently she leaned forward and touched his face, he awoke instantly at her touch, eyes flickering open and darting around the room anxiously before falling on her. His gaze softened when he saw her gazing down at him and he smiled weakly. 

"Hi," he whispered softly, his fingers brushed her hand and she felt warmth seep into her chilled flesh at the touch. 

"Hey," she spoke quietly in response. It was such a simple exchange for two people whose lives had become so complicated. "Where are we?" She asked, glancing around the room once more. 

Vaughn sat back and stretched, easing himself up onto the bed beside her. One arm circled her shoulders and he hugged her close to his side. "We're safe, for now anyway."

Sydney nodded, she had slept deeply but it was not her body that was exhausted. Her mind was overwhelmed with all that had happened, her spirit crumbling slowly to her feet. She didn't question his response, merely accepted it. She knew he was trying to protect her, if he said that they were safe then she would believe it.

Sighing softly, she looked up at Vaughn, meeting his eyes with a silent challenge. He stared down at her for a long moment, before closing his eyes in defeat and nodding. "You slept the whole ride here, I carried you in, changed your clothes. I have to admit that it made it a lot easier on me when you were unconscious, no questions were asked." Her eyes flashed with fire and he smiled gently, painfully.

"Though its better that I tell you here, now, before we go any further."

Sydney swallowed hard and lowered her head, dark hair falling in a curtain around her face, veiling her thoughts from him. "I deserve to know the truth, Vaughn," her gaze shifted back to him and saw the pain that resided in his eyes. 

Vaughn moved from beside her, kneeling on the floor in front of her in supplication. His hands spread open on her thighs and he turned his face to her, gazing up at her with love in his eyes.

"Yes you do," the words were scarcely more than a whisper that floated through the air, but they were the stones that fell from the wall he had built around himself. The dam breaking, waters rushing forth to flood him with emotion.

Sydney gazed at him expectantly and he nodded, leaning back on his heels. Standing, he grabbed a chair from the corner and dragged it over to sit in front of her. Lowering his face into his hands, he scrubbed at his face with both hands, wiping away all traces of sleep that lingered there. She recognize the motion, something he did when he needed to concentrate, closing his eyes to all else around him and turning his gaze inward. 

They sat like that for a few moments, filled with silence. Sydney staring at him, contemplating the man before her whom she loved so intensely. Vaughn's eyes were turned to his own soul, contemplating the secrets that lay hidden beneath many layers of lies and deceit. 

The fact that he had hidden very important truths from her, hurt her deeply, but it had not hurt as much as the sight of that wedding ring on his hand. She felt then that he had betrayed her and now she was hopeful for his redemption. Inwardly, she was begging for the truth, to know that he hadn't given up, that he had kept fighting. 

The moments seemed to stretch on into nothingness, each of them gazing into the mystery of each other and pondering what it could mean. At long last, Vaughn sighed heavily and lifted his head.

"It began three months after your death," a dark cloud passed over his features at the words and she winced slightly. She had become so accustomed to speaking of her own death in blunt terms, as the past and not the future. But when Vaughn said it, the words carried a note of finality. She had died, and so had he, in many ways. 

"I was drinking my way through the pain, hadn't left my apartment for months it felt like." He shook his head heavily, the memories washing over him like fire, burning his heart. "Then one day, your father came to see me." His eyes met hers abruptly, clashing like steel in the silence. 

"He told me about how he did the same thing when your mother had died. Drank until the pain was only a hollow void inside of him, what I was doing. He gave me a choice, I could sober up and avenge your death, bring your killers to justice, or I could drink myself to death." He shook his head, "You know how persuasive your father can be, he made me see that what I was doing, slowly destroying myself, was not what you would have wanted. You would want me to stand up and fight back instead of succumbing to the darkness. So I did."

Sydney stared at him, eyes intent on his face. Every word he spoke seemed to crack her heart, like a chisel slowly wearing it away. She had never considered the implications of what her death had done to him. 

"You didn't know then..." Her voice cracked and the words broke away. Vaughn glanced at her, sorrow written in his eyes and shook his head.

"That you were still alive? No. Jack and I began an investigation into your death. However, it was Irina that contacted us first, not the other way around. She was the one who informed us that the Covenant was behind your death, we had suspected it but never had concrete evidence until Irina provided us with it."

"What was the evidence?" Sydney's eyes darkened, brow furrowing with perplexity. 

"A paper trail leading back to the Covenant. Apparently the operation had been originally assigned to an elite assassin who was working within the Covenant and the US Government."

Sydney's confusion grew and she shook her head, frowning as she struggled to comprehend the information. "Who was the assassin?"

Vaughn took a deep breath and reached for her hands, clasping them tightly in his own. She could taste his fear, it radiated through her and echoed in her own heart. Staring deep into her eyes, Vaughn spoke quietly and calmly.

"A woman named Lauren Reed."

Sydney's eyebrows skyrocketed, face transforming with shock as she shot to her feet. Vaughn moved with her, still clutching her hands desperately. 

"What?!"

"Sydney, listen to me! Lauren is Covenant, I've known that since before I ever met her."

"But, she's your wife!" Sydney stumbled over her words as the spilled from her lips, she could barely comprehend them. The shock of what he had just told her shook her too deeply, she was unsure what to feel, how to react. 

"No, she's not." At his quiet words, Sydney slowly raised her eyes to his and he gazed at her pleadingly. Slowly, he eased her back down into a sitting position on the bed.

"Four months after your death, Jack and I met with your mother. Together, the three of us devised individualized missions that could lead us to the truth. Your father and I went deep undercover."

Sydney's voice was trembling when she spoke the next words. Tears threatening to spill over as she forced her voice past the lump that was thick in her throat. "Undercover?"

Vaughn nodded and squeezed her hands, "We were working for the Covenant."

Sydney felt the world fall from beneath her feet, the room around her disappeared into a hazy mist. All she could see was Vaughn, his hands were holding her's tightly, he was her anchor to reality. This was too much.

"Wha-What?"

Vaughn sighed and rubbed his eyes with the back of his hand, "We sought out Covenant officials in various sections of the world. Jack was stationed in Russia, I was still in the US. We were pursuing different leads, sharing information sporadically. I took it upon myself to seek out the woman who caused your death, Lauren," his eyes darkened suddenly, changing swiftly from a verdant green to almost black. The intensity of it took her breath away, the pain in his eyes made her physically ache. "But I underestimated the Covenant."

"Vaughn," Sydney whispered his name, heartbroken. Reaching out to touch his face, she felt him shiver beneath her touch. "What did they do to you?"

He swallowed hard and closed his eyes, reveling in the simple feel of her fingers on his flesh. This was what he had worked so hard to achieve, to be able to simply sit with her again, touch her hand, her cheek, look upon her face. This is what he had been fighting for.

"They did the same thing to me that they did to you, similar anyway but it took less time. They tortured me, brainwashed me, trained me to kill without conscience," he shuddered, a faraway look in his eyes as he lost himself in the memory. Sydney felt the tears that had gathered in her eyes begin to fall freely, if only she had known.

"Vaughn," his name was a broken sob that fell from cracked lips, a broken heart. His eyes cleared as he gazed at her and he shook his head, reaching out to wipe away her tears.

"Don't cry, Sydney. I did it for you, but I also did it for me. Caged in that cell, so close to death, I realized how much of life I had missed," he smiled gently at her, through the haze of her tears and kissed the tears away. His breath lingering on her skin, her eyelids flickering beneath his lips. She couldn't move, couldn't speak, could scarcely breathe for fear that she would wake up once more and it would all be a lie.

"Your parents had trained me in what little time we had together, to resist any brainwashing they might put me to. I did not lose my identity, but they did not want me to. They only wanted to break my spirit, to mold me into a killer," his mouth twisted with disgust. "To an extent, it worked but they were not the ones who had broken my spirit. My world had come shattering down the night you died." The pain in his voice was suffused with a rush of love and the thin veil of despair that had lingered over him. 

"As I sat there, amidst the ashes, staring at the black body bag," his voice cracked over the words, scraped bleeding and raw. "I died, Sydney. I died with you," with an smoldering intensity he clasped her hand over his heart. She could feel it beating rapidly beneath the trembling palm of her hand and she stared at him in wonder. "You were everything that was good in me, when you died, I lost all sense of goodness in the world. Everything was shades of grey, there was no color, no life, no hope. Not without you."

Vaughn swallowed hard and lowered his head, wiping his tears away on the sleeve of his shirt, unable to remove his hands from her grip. She was now the one holding onto him, fingers laced through his, unable to let go.

"I was in captivity for two months until the Covenant was confident they had molded me into an acceptable agent," he sneered at the words, disgust laced deep through every letter. "Even so, they didn't fully trust me so they assigned an agent to me, a 'partner.'" Vaughn scoffed and shook his head. "That was Lauren."

Sydney nodded slowly, hope blossoming in her heart amongst these newly planted seeds of despair. "You were never married to Lauren? It was just a facade for your partnership?"

Vaughn smiled and dropped to his knees once more before Sydney, Wrapping his arms tightly around her, he hugged his head to her stomach. His voice vibrated through her flesh, she could feel what he was trying to say.

"I never gave up on you, Syd. I never stopped loving you." He could feel her tears staining his flesh where they struck him from behind. "Lauren and I were pretending to be a happy couple but in reality, she was a double agent and I was a triple agent. I have been living this lie for so long, I was certain that it would be the last mission, that I would die trying to avenge you and I didn't care. I thought at least I would be at peace then, be with you." Vaughn shook his head, "Then everything changed."

Sydney breathed heavily, realization dawning slowly in her mind. "Me."

Vaughn nodded, looking up at her. "Jack and I had planned to take down the Covenant from within, destroy them all at once, but something happened. Nine months after your death, Jack contacted me with proof that you were still alive, the tape of Lazarey's death. That's when everything changed."

Sydney stared at him, mind spinning from the information he was loading on her. Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath and shook her head. "Why have you hidden this from me for so long? You could have told me that night in Hong Kong, why wait?"

"I had to wait," his words were filled with something close to guilt now and she shook her head. 

"Why?"

Vaughn gazed deep into her eyes, trying to find a flicker of recognition there. She was hearing all of this as if it were the first time, as hard as it was, the hardest part was yet to come.

"Because," Vaughn wrapped his arms around her and leaned his forehead against her temple, kissing her fluttering eyelids softly. "You asked me to."

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	6. Chapter Six: Faded Memories

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Chapter Six:

Faded memories

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Time slowed to a stop, Sydney's heart halting in her chest. Ice ran through her veins, coating her flesh with bitter chill that seemed as if it would never dissipate. Shivering violently, she struggled to lift her arms, to wrap them around herself and warm the bitter cold that Vaughn's words had settled over her. She could not move, could not speak, she couldn't even look at him. She remained staring blankly into the space in front of her, hovering somewhere around Vaughn's chest but she couldn't even see him. There was darkness in her, it veiled her eyes from the truth that hovered beyond her gaze. It seeped in slowly, dawning upon her like the light that caused the darkness to fade into deep shadows. 

She could feel Vaughn pulling away from her, leaning back to study her face with a quiet intensity she had become accustomed to. The absence of his flesh pressed against her own left her cold, the hollow space inside growing without his love to fill her. 

His eyes were on her face, his body moving slowly. Through the shadows, she could see him moving sluggishly. His image danced over her brain in slow motion, a flash of green like the most precious jewels searing her heart with its heat. The movement of his hands as they blurred before her face and she felt them come to rest on her back. His arms encircled her tightly, she felt choked for breath but deep down she knew that she would be happy to suffocate beneath him. As long as he never let go of her, she might learn how to survive. 

His words were echoing through her head, slowly sinking into the deepest cracks where the shadows hid and illuminating them fully. It seemed too unbelievable, everything he had just told her, but as it began to sink in, she realized that she did not doubt it at all. Somewhere, deep inside of the darkness, a spark was burning, the flame of truth. In her heart, Sydney knew what he spoke was the truth.

"Syd," Vaughn's voice filtered through the fog that had shrouded her with its sorrowful cloud. She realized that he had been saying her name for a few minutes, her name was tinged with an edge of desperation this time. He was terrified, she did not know which one of them was more frightened. He,who knew the truth, or her, who was only now discovering what it all meant.

Slowly she turned her eyes to him and gazed at him for a long time. His face was so open and honest, pleading with her for understanding. Dear God, what had she put him through? She had been selfish enough to discard the memories that haunted Vaughn day and night. She had killed him. The knowledge echoed through her heart, splitting it in two. If it had not been for her, he would never have been forced to undergo the torture, the pain, the lying and betrayal. He had done it all for her and she had thrown it in his face. Her own words echoed in her head and she felt the waves of guilt begin to descend upon her.

"What it comes down to is a matter of faith...I would have waited...Now I realize what an absolute waste that would have been."

She could feel the tears pouring freely, spilling over her cheeks, threatening to drown her with their sorrow. Choking back a sob, she felt Vaughn's fingers gently wiping away her tears. He always touched her with such tenderness, he should hate her but he didn't. He loved her. Somehow that made it worse, compounded the pain twice as much, knowing that she had hurt him so deeply.

Vaughn was shaking her head, murmuring softly, her name tangled between softly spoken words. He could see the conflict in her and it killed him to know that this was hurting her so much but he knew it would hurt her more if he never told her. She would spend every day for the rest of her life wondering about the truth and if he didn't tell her now, the rest of her life would not last very long. He would not lose her again.

"Syd, don't..." his voice broke open, the pain spilling out, staining his cheeks with tears. He shook his head and swallowed hard, pulling her close to him. She buried her head in his chest and sobbed softly into the warmth of him. Curling up in his arms, she clutched him desperately, holding on for dear life.

"Don't blame yourself, not for one second. None of this is your fault, Sydney. None of it," he stroked her back gently, running his fingers through her hair with his free hand. He calmed her wrenching sobs, but still she shivered in his arms. 

"Everyday I wish that I could go back in time," he whispered into her hair. "But I can't. What's done is done, you and I were victims of a greater evil than we knew even existed. But we have each other again, that's all that matters." Her shaking subsided slightly and he kissed the top of her head gently.

"Syd, when I saw you again, I came back to life." He shook his head, almost smiling at the memory. "You gave me a strength that was not borne of desperation and hatred, but love. You gave me purpose, kept me sane." She looked up at him once more, eyes glazed with tears, face wet and vulnerable. She spoke one word, but he knew what it meant.

"When?"

Vaughn shut his eyes momentarily beneath the heat of her gaze, memories washed over him as he traveled back in his mind to that moment.

"It was in Moscow, about a year after your death. I had finally gained the Covenant's trust, I went to Moscow to meet with Jack but when I arrived, I discovered that he had been taken into custody for being in contact with your mother."

Vaughn remembered the chill that had raced down his spine as he read the message Jack had left for him. Carefully encoded as not to reveal anything to suspicious eyes, Vaughn could decipher it all too easily. He had been compromised, and not by the Covenant. The CIA may never know it, but they might have saved Jack's life by taking him into their custody. If the Covenant had discovered that the CIA was suspicious of Jack, they would have killed him instantly. 

The message was clear, but it was not Jack's imprisonment that had stopped his heart in its tracks. It was the second part of the message he had left, the part that told him Sydney was on her way to meet with him. Jack had known where she was, had most likely been here to see her but had been compromised before he could. It was up to Vaughn now, to do what needed to be done.

Before he could even set the note back on the table, he heard the air behind him whistle faintly. A familiar sound that indicated the swift movement of a clenched fist through the air, prepared to aim a hard blow to the back of his head. He lifted one arm, twisting it behind him to grasp the wrist of his attacker with a fluid motion, born of the unholy training the Covenant had subjected him to. He spun himself around quickly, one hand swinging around to lash out and connect with the pressure point in the base of the skull that would render his attacker unconscious, or dead, instantly.

Instead, he had found himself face to face with Sydney.

His heart stopped, breath caught in his lungs and for a long moment all he could do was stare at her. He barely even noticed when she pushed him back away from her, anger burning those beautiful dark eyes. She was thinner now but much more hardened, even stronger than she had been before. She was frowning at the way he had simply given up fighting, staring at him with a perplexed expression on her normally impassive face. He stared at her, waiting for some sign, a flicker of recognition in her eyes. There was nothing. 

"Who are you?" She demanded, her voice was colored with an English accent. It sounded odd on her, the husky voice of her's had never pretended to be elegant or proper.

"Julia," he had breathed. "Remember who you are, who I am. What we were to one another." His eyes were pleading with her, "Don't you know me, Sydney?"

Her eyes had widened with shock, and finally he saw a stirring deep in the depths of her soul that peered out through her dark gaze. She had become this woman, the antithesis of who she truly was. She had become cold, ruthless, detached, in order to survive. Just like he had.

"The Covenant brainwashed me," Sydney spoke absently, interrupting Vaughn's steady flow of words. He did not mind, knew that she needed to understand this more than he needed to remember it. Vaughn nodded slightly and then frowned.

"Well, sort of," he shook his head as Sydney looked to him for an explanation. "During Project Christmas, Jack trained you to be able to withstand most types of torture and brainwashing techniques. However, the Covenant found a way to reverse much of this training and they managed to train you to become their assassin. You knew that you were not really Julia Thorne, had a memory of Sydney hidden inside. The one thing that they effectively managed to achieve was to make you believe that Jack and I were both dead. They realized that we were the two people most important to you and once they made you believe that you had nothing to live for, you were susceptible to their will."

Sydney nodded, swallowing hard as she tried to imagine what it had been like for her at that moment. She was the one who had given up and believed the lie they had fed to her, and yet she could not envision herself accepting that so easily.

"Why did I believe them?"

Vaughn's head dropped and he sighed softly, the sound reverberating in the space between them. "They showed you photographs of what they had done to me when they held me in captivity. Trust me when I say that it is not hard to believe that I was dead by the state I was in."

Sydney bit her lip and looked away, eyes flitting around the room, not seeing anything but what those photos could possibly have shown. No wonder she had erased her memory, she would not want to remember that sight.

Vaughn's hand covered her own, gently squeezing it and giving her back some strength. Meeting his eyes, she nodded weakly and gestured for him to continue.

When his heart had started again, it filled so rapidly with a warm rush of emotion that he felt it cracking, slowly breaking. It was the first time he had felt his heart beat in a year, the first time he had felt anything other than rage, pain or despair. Kneeling before Sydney Bristow, he was humbled and filled with the colors of emotions he had long since forgotten. The world transformed around him, the ugly shades of grey morphing rapidly into his long forgotten color. The ivory of her skin, the gold of her hair (which admittedly, was not what he preferred, but it mattered little to him what color her hair was.) The deep chocolate of her eyes, the soft crimson of her lips. It all came back to him as quickly as he had lost it and he clutched it desperately with all of his strength, savoring this moment and swearing silently to himself that he would never let it go.

"Sydney," he clutched her hands desperately and she did not move away. She stared down at him, fear flickering in her eyes. He could see the struggle within herself, he was so close, the memory of him hovering on the edges of her consciousness. He only had to bring her back.

"Listen to me, your name is Sydney Bristow. Your father is Jack Bristow, your mother is Irina Derevko. You were recruited by a man named Arvin Sloane when you were a freshman in college, at UCLA. He told you that you fit a profile, you were recruited into an organization called SD-6 that you believed was part of the CIA." Vaughn had rattled off details about her life, staring up at her with wild eyes, filled to the brim with emotion. He was doing whatever he could to make her remember. 

"Your boyfriend at the time was named Daniel Hecht, when he proposed to you told him the truth about your work. Sloane had him killed for knowing the truth. It was then that you discovered that SD-6 was part of the Alliance and that your father was a double agent, working for SD-6 and the CIA. You came into the CIA after Sloane tried to have you killed and became a double agent as well. It was there that you met me." He gripped her hands tighter, as if he could push the memories back into her by sheer force of will. She was gazing down at him in a daze, as if she could remember some of these details but not all.

"I was your handler at the CIA. I fell in love with you the moment I saw you, do you remember when I told you about my father's watch?" Sydney frowned at this and shook her head, brow furrowed with intense concentration. Vaughn could tell that he was slowly starting to break through.

"You asked me once to break into the Vatican with you," he almost laughed now at the memory. It had been a dangerous mission, they could have died, but it seemed so easy now in retrospect after all he had endured. "I broke so many rules chasing you around the world, Sydney. You went against the CIA's will so many times, once to save a friend. I went to all your favorite places, the observatory, the pier, the bluffs, the Palisades and finally I found you at the train station." He studied her face with a desperate intensity. "Do you remember?"

Sydney's eyes flickered around the room in confusion, staring down at him, she shook herself and tried to block out his words. They were stirring things inside of her heart that scared her.

"You were the one who contacted me?"

Vaughn shot to his feet and almost slammed his fist into the wall in frustration. Breathing heavily, he turned back to her. His voice was low, tinged with anger, but somehow she knew that he was not angry with her. He was angry with whoever had done this to her, but what had been done?

"No, Sydney. Jack contacted you. Do you remember Jack?"

She frowned and struggled to remember, "My...father?"

Vaughn's face lit up, "Yes!" Rushing to her side, he gripped her by the shoulders and stared deep into her eyes. "You remember Jack?"

Shaking her head, Sydney bit her lip. "You said his name." She frowned, "My name is Julia, why do you keep calling me Sydney?"

"Godammit!" Vaughn felt the anger rising up inside of him. The Covenant had stolen her from him once, they were not going to take her from herself. He would not allow it. He was filled with frustration and a desperation that scared him. There was only one option left to him.

He strode toward her, rapidly consuming the space between them with long strides. She was staring at him with wide eyes, fear flickering in the darkness. Without a second thought, Vaughn wrapped his arms around her and brought his lips to hers.

She did not kiss him back, but did not pull away either. There was something about the feeling of his arms around her, the way his hand slid up her back and tangled in her hair that felt so right. So easy and natural, as if it was familiar to both of them.

He kissed her with all the passion that had been built up inside of him for the past year. With all of the hunger and desperation and longing that had driven him onward, tormented him late at night. He would not give up.

Suddenly, a dam seemed to break, waters rushing forth and flooding Sydney with the awareness of who held her in his arms. She gave up rational thought and wrapped her arms around him, pulling him closer to her until it seemed that they would melt together and become one person. This was right, this was where she was meant to be, this was...Vaughn.

"Vaughn," she moaned his name into his lips and he almost didn't hear her, so caught up in her that he was. It was a sound that he had once been so used to, something he had taken for granted and had missed in the dark hours. It was something that had gotten him through the torture, the memory of her voice at that moment, filled with love and desire. That was his Sydney. Suddenly it registered in his brain, what had just happened. She had called his name, he hadn't told her his name. He had told her about Jack, Irina and Danny, but not his own name.

Pulling away with a gasp, he stared at her and saw recognition in her eyes. She was staring at him with wonder, love in her voice as she spoke. "Vaughn!" She reached up to touch his face and shook her head in disbelief, "I thought you were dead!"

This time, he really did laugh, a sound that startled both of them. He could not remember the last time he had laughed, felt this kind of pure joy and relief. She was the only one who could bring this to him. The irony of her statement was too much for him and after a moment, she cracked a smile and giggled. The sound was music to his ears.

"Oh God, Syd. Thank God," he wrapped his arms around her again and held her close to him. He was never going to let her go again.

But he had.

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	7. A Storm Brews Inside

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Chapter Seven:

A Storm Brews Inside

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The cloud of memory that hung over Vaughn cleared, his eyes focusing on the room around him. The images that hung before him, Sydney's eyes at that moment, the complete and utter surrender, faded from his view. The room came back into focus, he was seated on the bed, Sydney had moved away from him as he spoke. She stood now beside the small window across from him, gazing out into the sunshine. She had composed herself after the whirlwind of emotion and he could tell that she was struggling now to listen to his words with detachment. But he could see the way it was affecting her. Her face was turned away from him but by the set of her shoulders, the tense way she held herself, he knew the waves of truth that crashed over her would not wash away the pain.

He dropped his eyes and ran his fingers through his hair, tugging at the roots as if the pain could make him more real. Standing, he crossed the room quietly and came up behind her. She did not move to face him and he slipped his arms around her waist, hugging her to his body from behind. She sighed and leaned his head back against his chest, hands coming to clutch at the arms that circled her tightly.

"You brought me back," she whispered. He could see the tears gleaming on her face but her eyes were dry for now. There was a light in them that he had seen before, memories stirred but not remembered. He nodded against her hair where it rested beneath his chin.

"You brought yourself back, I only helped you do it." Vaughn kissed her hair softly and she turned in his arms, bringing her gaze to his eyes. His breath caught in his throat, those eyes, soft with sorrow were infused with a love so intense that he could scarcely hear for the blood pounding in his ears. But her next words were ones he would never forget.

"Vaughn," Sydney cupped his cheek with her hand and smiled gently, tears springing once more to her eyes but refusing to spill over. "I love you so much."

He smiled, the problems at hand falling away from them and pressed her close to him. Leaning his forehead against her temple, he planted soft kisses on her face. Murmuring softly, "I love you, Sydney." He brought his lips to her's and captured them in a gentle kiss. She wrapped her arms around him, the familiar touch of her hands burning his skin. 

They kissed softly at first, hesitant as if waiting for something to stop them, for the world to screeching to a halt, but it didn't. Vaughn's hands tangled in her hair and deepened the kiss, the bond between them. For her, it had been two years since she had been allowed to do this. For him, it had been six agonizing months of pretending to love someone else, of kissing lips that were cold and bitter to taste. Sydney's were sweet and warmed his soul in a way no one else ever could.

The kiss was reminiscent of their first one, when they had stood amidst the wreckage of the lie that had brought them together. Filled with the same intensity and longing, the same passion and hunger. So wrapped up in one another that the rest of the world fell away from them. It was the first time all over again, as they stood amidst the broken memories and lies of the past two years that chained them. 

They fell into one another, all of the issues they had to deal with flying from their thoughts. There was nothing here and now except for Sydney and Vaughn and the truth, that their love could never die. They transcended the shadows of death, fought off the encroaching darkness and come through the other side. Each had risen from the ashes of their former selves and become someone unrecognizable to anyone but one another.

At length they broke apart, gasping for air, bodies still pressed together, hearts pounding as one. Sydney leaned her head against Vaughn's, eyes closed. He studied her intently, the sun coming in through the window illuminated her shadowed face, her hair gleaming with traces of gold. Tracing the contours of her face with his fingers, she smiled softly and brought her hand up to clasp his. Opening her eyes, she gazed at him for a long moment. He kissed her once more, softly and pulled away slightly, still gripping her hand. 

"I was half hoping it would be that easy again," she murmured lightly. Vaughn chuckled and then winced at a sudden memory. He became serious once more and shook his head.

"No, it's not going to be that easy this time."

Together they moved over to the bed, seating themselves on the soft comforter. They sat indian style, facing one another, knees touching in the close proximity. His presence calmed her troubled mind, and she cleared her thoughts, dried her eyes and looked at him once more.

"Vaughn," her hold on him tightened as she spoke. "What the hell happened? How did I go from remembering who I was and everything that had happened to me, to waking up in Hong Kong with no memory of any of it." Her brows furrowed in confusion and she shook her head. "I don't understand."

"I know," Vaughn bit his lip and touched her cheek with his free hand. "And I can't fill in all of the gaps, but I can tell you what is important."

Sydney nodded and looked at him, waiting for him to begin again.

"After you began to remember who you were, you were horrified by what you'd done. You wanted me to get you out of there, but I couldn't. We were both already so deeply involved..."

"Vaughn," Sydney had stared at him, scarcely able to comprehend what he'd just told her. "You're working for the Covenant?"

"To bring your killers to justice," Vaughn had moved closer to her and wrapped his arms around her. It was such a relief to feel her heart beating against him, her skin pressed against his own. "Then I found out that you were alive and it became a matter of bringing you back to me."

Sydney shook her head, "I can't do this anymore, Vaughn. Now that I know the truth, I can't go back to them."

Vaughn nodded, moving to his feet and pacing the room quietly. Fist pressed to his mouth, he strode rapidly back and forth in front of where Sydney sat. She watched him carefully, his eyes lost deep in thought. She wondered at what he had done to come this far, to find her. What he had sacrificed for her.

"You're right," he said at last as he slowed to a stop in front of her. "You cannot go back to them, but I have to."

Sydney's eyes narrowed in alarm and she jumped to her feet, "No, Vaughn. I can't let you do that!"

"I have to, Sydney!" He grasped her by the shoulders and she winced at the force of his grip. He had grown so much stronger, so much harder, but so had she.

"When they find out that you've defected, I will be the first person they will suspect. Jack is already in prison-" His words were cut short by Sydney's gasp.

"My dad is in prison?" Her words were filled with rage. "Who is responsible for this?" She hissed.

Vaughn shook his head, "The NSC discovered that he has been in contact with your mother. Irina is number six on the CIA's most wanted list right now and Robert Lindsey has hated your father for a long time. Jack has been compromised, he has left the rest of this mission to me. I must carry it out as he would or all of this will have been in vain."

Sydney frowned and shook her head, eyes dark with anger and fear. "Where will I go?"

Vaughn bit his lip and looked away from his penetrating gaze. "Irina."

Sydney stared at him in surprise, "You know where my mother is?" The shock was evident on her face. Vaughn nodded slowly, eyes flickering around the room before coming to rest on Sydney's face. 

"She has been working with Jack and I, investigating your death. She has betrayed us all in the past, I know that better than anyone except for you Sydney. But you have to know that in the time I've spent with her, I've learned that when it comes to you, there is nothing more important. She will do everything in her power to protect you and we both know that her power is much greater than mine."

Sydney's eyes filled suddenly with tears and she shook her head, "I don't want to leave you again."

Vaughn's face fell and he felt his heart constrict, breath catch in his throat. His chest tightened painfully as he looked at her and he shook his head, swallowing the lump in his throat. "I know, Syd," gathering her into his arms he felt tears burn his eyes. "I know." He stroked her back soothingly. A sob broke free from her, muffled against his flesh and she pulled back to look at him. He had gone through so much to get here and she could sacrifice him in a second with a rash decision. He would go down for her though, trusting the entire time that he was doing the right thing as long as she was safe.

Shaking her head, she swallowed her tears, her pride and scrubbed a weary hand over her face. "The Covenant will never let me walk free," the realization was hitting her even as she spoke the words. They had gone through too much effort to bring her over to their side, they would never let her live with the knowledge she had of them.

Clutching her hands to her lips, she concentrated intently on a point beyond him that he could not see. She was gazing inward now, wondering how she could free herself. At length, her mind cleared and she gazed up at Vaughn. "During my captivity and the time since, I have learned that the Covenant, much like SD-6, is extremely focused on Rambaldi. They believe that I am the chosen one spoken of in the prophecies, they are trying to use me but I don't know for what." She sighed and shook her head, "It could be anything, the things that I have done for them." She shuddered convulsively and wrapped her arms around herself. 

Vaughn's gaze softened and he knelt in front of her, hands on her knees. He met her gaze steadily and nodded, "I understand what you've had to do, Syd."

She stared at him, understanding in his eyes and saw in him a reflection of herself. She understood now, that they were at least on equal ground, they had both endured pain and loss and been forced to do things they had never thought themselves capable of.

"For the past few months," she began slowly. "I have been working with a man named Adrian Lazarey. He is a member of the Mythic Order of Rambaldi, dedicated his life to protecting his works."

"Wait," Vaughn held one hand up to her lips, forehead furrowed in confusion. "I thought you killed Lazarey?"

Sydney shook her head, "No, we staged his death but the Covenant wanted something from him." She lowered her eyes and winced, recalling the threats she had made against Lazarey. "He's a good man."

"So why is he working with the Covenant?"

Sydney's eyes darkened and she dropped her head, the golden hair falling around her face. "Because we have something, or someone that he wants back very badly." Biting her lip, guilt clearly written across her face, Sydney shook her head. "Lazarey had a son, a long time ago. But his mother took him away, changed his name, hid him from Lazarey. I'm not clear on why she did this but the boy was raised without ever knowing who his father was. Lazarey never saw him again, but one thing I have learned about this man is his loyalty to his family. His son is no exception, I have heard him speak of Julian with love in his tone, though he hasn't seen his son since he was a small child. Apparently the Covenant has Lazarey's son in custody, they are threatening to kill him if Lazarey does not comply with their demands."

"Do you know if the Covenant really has his son, what was his name? Julian?" Vaughn asked, he felt as if there was a missing piece here that he could not place. Sydney shrugged and tucked an errant strand of gleaming hair behind one ear.

"I'm not sure but Lazarey believes them, he mentioned to me that they had sent him proof that he could not deny but never elaborated on it. It seemed to pain him a great deal."

"Wait a minute," Sydney shook her head, eyes wide. "You're telling me that Lazarey is alive? And that the Covenant was claiming to have Sark in custody when the CIA had him all along?"

Vaughn nodded slowly, aware of how much intrigue and double-crossing had been at play. It became confusing after awhile, one began to lose track of which lie had been told and to whom. Sydney could see this in his eyes, she had felt the same despair when she had been a double agent, forced to lie to everyone. Vaughn had been the only one who had told her the truth, been honest with her. She could see how much of a relief this was to him, relaying the truth, as much as it pained him, it hurt him more to hide it from her.

"So, if Lazarey is alive..." Sydney frowned, "You knew..." Staring at him with wide eyes, she pulled away slightly. "You knew the whole time and never told me."

"Yes," Vaughn conceded. "I did know but remember that Lauren is also Covenant. She knew too."

Sydney shook her head, "Why not turn me in at the beginning?"

"Simple, she needed proof. When Sark came to her and gave her those photos, she knew that there would be cameras in the garage. It would have looked too suspicious if she had been caught on tape with a known terrorist and not informed anyone what they had discussed." Vaughn grimaced, the thought of his alleged wife disgusting him deeply as it always did. "Plus, she finally had her chance. She knew what Lindsey, the NSC, would do to you if they discovered the truth. Once she had hard evidence, granted it was of an event that never really took place, but she had evidence that you had committed a crime during your missing time. She had the leverage to have you arrested and the surgical procedure performed."

"Why is Lauren so eager to have me lobotomized?" Sydney scowled and tugged on a lock of her hair in frustration. "Last week, I would have said its because she thinks I'm a threat to your relationship but now that I know that the relationship is virtually nonexistent, all I can imagine is that they are orders from the Covenant."

"You're right," Vaughn assured her with a grimace. "Even if you were brain damaged, they could still extract the information from you as long as you remembered. And you might even prove more willing to do whatever it is you need to do to fulfill the prophecy."

Sydney could see his point, but that didn't mean she had to like it. Her hatred for the Covenant, for what they had done to her and were still trying to do burned inside of her. It was like a raging fire, stirred from the embers that had almost become cold ash. 

With a sigh, Syd glanced around the small room. "If Lazarey isn't even dead, then why are we on the run? Why didn't we tell Dixon the truth?"

"And risk exposing me?" Vaughn's voice was soft, barely a whisper that met her ears and she winced. He was right. 

"I couldn't tell Dixon, Lindsey, anyone the truth without proof. At the moment, all we have is proof that you killed him. We don't yet have proof that he is alive."

"Yet?" Sydney cocked one eyebrow at him and Vaughn nodded slightly, turning to dig through the bag beside their bed. Retrieving the messages they had recovered from her apartment, he looked through them with a frown. 

"One of these codes contains coordinates, a location where you buried something that proves that Lazarey is still alive."

Sydney took the codes from him and studied them absently, still not able to recognize her own flowing script. "What is it?"

Vaughn shrugged, "That, I don't know. You never told me."

Sydney chewed nervously on one fingernail, a motion that she had never done before she had returned from the dead. Wondering absently if it was a habit she had picked up over the missing two years, she felt Vaughn's hand smooth the fingers away from her lips. He smiled gently as she glanced up at him and she couldn't help but feel the anxiety that whirled inside of her calm somewhat. "Vaughn, what do I know that the Covenant wants?"

He swallowed hard and turned his gaze away from her, looking out to the bright daylight outside. In here, they were filled with shadows that clung to the feeble light. The soft beams of sunlight danced in through the window, shimmering on the glass, gleaming in her eyes. He could not stand to see those eyes dark with despair again. But there was nothing that he could do.

Vaughn grasped her hands tightly and turned back to her, though still unable to meet her eyes. His gaze fixed intently on her slender fingers that stroked his hand gently. Their fingers laced together, palms locking like a perfect fit. As if they were meant to be this way.

"Sydney," his voice was husky but he disregarded it, struggling to clear his throat but unable to move past the lump in his throat. "As painful and as confusing as this story has been so far..." He met her eyes, green orbs alight with an intensity that unnerved her. "It is nothing compared to what happened next."

Sydney swallowed hard and shook her head, "I am ready." She whispered.

Vaughn sighed, and began, once more, to speak.

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	8. Letting Go

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Chapter Eight:

Letting Go

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"Tell me what you and Lazarey have been investigating," Vaughn was kneeling before her, as if in supplication, searching for some answers. Sydney turned her gaze away from him, the pain in his eyes so carefully masked by concern for her, fear for her and above all else the consuming love that poured forth.

"Lazarey dedicated his life to Rambaldi, he has been searching for the most precious of artifacts for over thirty years. Last time I spoke with him, he indicated a cave hidden deep underground where this artifact might be found. He has been collecting these keys, twelve total that will unlock the mystery of Rambaldi."

Vaughn's eyes narrowed in thought as he studied her carefully. He could practically hear her thoughts, whatever this Rambaldi artifact was, the Covenant was searching for it desperately.

"The Covenant cannot have it," he murmured. Sydney nodded and turned back to him, reaching out to touch his face gently. He smiled and kissed the palm of her hand, gripping it tightly. He was her anchor as she was cast adrift in a sea of the unknown.

"It's a good thing you found me when you did," Sydney said softly. "I came to Moscow to meet with Lazarey, we are supposed to leave tomorrow for Nambia."

Vaughn nodded, slowly easing back onto his heels and running a hand through his hair. "Okay..." He sank down onto the floor with a sigh and shook his head. "You will have to go through with the mission as planned. When you have recovered the Rambaldi artifact, you will have to meet your mother in Kiev. I will try to be there to meet you."

Sydney shook her head, "How can I trust my mother?" She could hardly comprehend the idea but between Irina and the Covenant, it seemed that her mother was the lesser of two evils.

Vaughn bit his lip and sighed heavily, "I can't tell you that you can fully trust her but I have. Jack has. And your mother, despite her betrayal, has proven that she has acted to protect you more often than not. It is the only choice we have."

Sydney nodded, "You're right. But what about Lazarey? What do I tell him?"

"You'll have to tell him what I believe is the truth. The Covenant doesn't have his son, they've been using him and this is his only chance to escape their hold over him."

Sydney stood and gazed down at him silently. There was a stillness in her eyes that unnerved him, a calm facade that masked an underlying struggle. "I wish you could come with me," she whispered.

His eyes softened and he brought himself closer to her, hugging her to him, resting his head on the cushion of her stomach. "I know," he whispered a soft kiss into her flesh. Standing to look into her eyes, he kissed her softly. "Me too." The sweet addiction of his lips left her breathless and filled with fire.

Raising her gaze to his eyes, she could see the heat mirrored there. With a deep breath, Vaughn pushed aside the pain and fear that hovered like a cloud above their heads and wrapped his arms tightly around her. The feel of her body pressed against his, the heat of her breath on his neck, the pulse of her heart beating in unison with his own. It was like a dream that he could not bear to wake from. 

"Syd," her name was almost broken on his lips, a strangled gasp that he could barely usher from his lips. Swallowing hard, he shook his head with a familiar determination. "I'm not going to lose you twice." His voice was low and husky, colored with tones she had never heard before but a raw quality that she recognized all too clearly.

Sydney planted kisses on his face, his forehead, the corners of his mouth, the tip of his nose. Slowly she slid her hands beneath his shirt and slid it up over his head. He gave way to her easily, the clothing falling to the floor with barely a sound. She planted the seed of a kiss on his chest, over his heart. Her roots dug deep, a simple touch uncovering them from beneath the soil, the dirt and the grime. She was a rose planted in his flesh, the thorns sticking up from beneath blood and sweat, pricking them both. They had long become used to the pain, for the beauty drowned the rest in sweet surrender.

He let go with a moan, muffled by her lips as they captured his once more in a hungry kiss. Time dropped away from them, there was no space between this moment and the last when they had stood together, locked in a heated embrace. There was nothing but the two of them.

It seemed to him later that he had stumbled over himself on his way to the bed, with her arms locked around him, fingers gripping his hair, his skin, his very soul. But at the time he barely noticed the transition, they slid so smoothly from one place to another that he couldn't quite recall how they had ended up tangled together on the bed. All that mattered was the touch of her, the taste of her skin, the sweet clinging scent of her hair that seemed to fill him. He could live on these sensations, her touch, her taste, her scent, never wanting again for bread or water as long as he had Sydney. He could live off of her.

They fell into one another, two broken halves of a whole. Cracked apart, broken and unrepaired save for the touch of the other. Raw and bleeding, they lay their souls at the foot of the bed and allowed themselves this moment to heal.

Vaughn returned to the present moment, the images still reeling through his head. The touch of her skin was lingering on his fingertips and he realized it was because he had been gripping her hand so tightly that his knuckles had turned white. Breathing heavily, he released her hand with a soft sigh and looked up to meet her soft gaze. She had not voiced one complaint to his grip on her, seemed to revel in it instead. It connected her to him, to the memories that she could not recall.

"I never knew how much you loved me," she murmured softly, love glistening in her eyes. "Until that moment."

He stared at her, at a loss for words. "You remember that?" A wild hope surged within him and he leaned forward to grip her shoulders. "Syd?"

She blinked, coming out of a daze that she had not even been aware of and shook her head, clearing her thoughts. "I remember the emotion," she began slowly. "The intensity of it, your words brought it back..." She frowned and removed his hands from her shoulders, clasping them gently in her lap. "Bits and pieces come back to me but not the whole picture."

Vaughn smiled in a giddy relief, "That's good, it's a start." 

She nodded, "Yeah it is. But there's still more isn't there? I agreed to work with Lazarey," she could see the telltale flicker in his eyes that she had hit the sore spot. He was afraid to come to that, she could tell, he was attempting to soften the blow by reassuring her of his love.

"Vaughn," Sydney lifted one hand to her lips and kissed his palm gently. "What did I find?"

Vaughn strode into the compound, aware of the eyes of the guards following his back. He was prepared for anything he might find inside, or so he told himself over and over again. It had been weeks since he had seen Sydney in Moscow, he had been forced to return to LA and Lauren. She did not question his random disappearances, as she made plenty of her own. They were partners in name only, each keeping an eye on the other on behalf of the Covenant. They did not seem to trust any of their agents, yet they did not seem to track them very heavily. Vaughn had learned long ago to identify if he was being tracked by Covenant agents, they were trained well but he had been trained better. He had learned that in order to survive, he had to slip past prying eyes, remain unseen. He had established an art of invisibility.

Lauren was called away on unknown missions almost as often as he was. He was always keeping an eye out, however, for the subtle message that Irina would send. He knew it would be coming, but every day that passed without word heightened his fear. At last, he had received word the day before, indicating that Sydney had arrived safely in Kiev. 

The tight knot of anxiety swelled in his chest as he strode through the corridors. His stance was relaxed, but anyone who knew him well would see the tension in the set of his shoulders, the way he took each stride a bit faster than the one before. Irina's message, as encoded and simple as it had been, had contained a thread of urgency, of fear. And that scared him. Anything that could scare Irina Derevko, a fearless woman, scared him as well. Especially where Sydney was concerned.

At length, he burst into the room where Irina was waiting. She looked up from the desk to find Vaughn staring at her with wild eyes. Smiling slightly, Irina stood and crossed the room to where Vaughn stood. 

"Michael, thank you for coming so quickly."

"Irina," Vaughn nodded at her quickly, briefly and before he could take another breath, demanded. "Where is she?" 

He glanced around the room to find Sydney standing up from where she was sitting on a nearby couch. A breath of relief rushed out of Vaughn and he rushed to her, gathering her into his arms before she could even take a step toward him.

"Syd," he shook his head and tangled his fingers in her hair. "Oh God, I was so scared."

"I'm fine, Vaughn." The words would have sounded convincing enough to anyone but him, he could hear the hollow, flat tone of her voice. The underlying apprehension. Slowly he drew back and looked at her, studying her intently. She appeared tired, worn down, shadows haunting her eyes, dark circles ringing the area beneath them.

"Syd," Vaughn touched her face gently, soothing one hand across the fresh scrapes that marred her face. "What happened? What did you find?"

Her eyes became even darker and she glanced away from him, eyes falling upon her mother who stood at the desk. Irina was waiting patiently for their reunion to conclude, so they could get down to business.

Vaughn turned to face Irina, one hand falling to his side where he clasped Sydney's hand tightly. "Irina, I assume you have heard about Jack."

Irina's dark eyes flashed with fire that was quickly quelled by something soft and sad. She simply nodded and cleared her throat, "Yes. It was unfortunate, but at least his work has not been in vain." 

Vaughn nodded and took a step closer to her, his stance wary and protective of Sydney. "What is it?"

Irina's gaze flickered from Vaughn to her daughter, standing at his side. Sydney met her mother's eyes for a long moment and Vaughn could not help but wonder what had transpired between the two before he had arrived. They seemed to come to some sort of silent agreement, and Irina picked up a piece of yellowed parchment from the desk. She handed it to Vaughn and let out a soft sigh.

"There were several things in the vault," Sydney told him softly as he gazed at the parchment with wide eyes. "A Rambaldi device, instructions on how to work it and this. Another prophecy."

Vaughn stared at the prophecy, uncomprehending what it said. "What does this mean?"

Sydney's hand slipped out of his and she moved away from him, Vaughn turned to look at her, suddenly cold, bereft of her presence. Irina caught him by the shoulder and forced his eyes to her. "It is a prophecy about Sydney," she told him. "It also makes reference to myself, Jack, Sloane... and you."

Vaughn was startled by this revelation. "I don't understand."

"The original prophecy stated that Sydney would wield the greatest power," Irina's eyes lifted to search out her daughter, almost apologetically. Sydney shook her head and slumped down onto the couch once more. Vaughn fought the urge to run to her, gather her in his arms and never let go.

"The greatest power," Irina echoed, her words reverberated through Vaughn's head. "Unto utter desolation," She glanced down at the parchment in his hand and shook her head. "This prophecy says that she will wield that power, the power contained within this Rambaldi device. She will betray herself unless she forsakes all bonds of love and family and sacrifice herself to destroy the evil that has risen."

Vaughn felt his mouth go dry, he stumbled away from Irina, the prophecy fluttering from his hand to the floor. He sought out Sydney, blindly, searching for her. He stumbled over to the couch and dropped to his knees in front of her. Raising his gaze, he felt it clear as her eyes locked onto his. In them, he could see the despair that had risen to take hold of her.

"No," he whispered. He shook his head, hands clenching into fists that pounded on his forehead. "No, I will not let you do this, Syd."

"Vaughn," her voice was calm and clear, like water rippling over stones. She reached out to grasp his head, bringing his wrinkled forehead to her lips and kissing his temple softly. "I have to do this."

"No! These damn prophecies, Sloane, the Covenant, none of it is worth your life!" He was shouting, filled with rage at the prophecy, at Sloane, at Rambaldi.

"There is another way," Irina spoke softly, her voice filled with regret as she watched the scene unfold before her. She had seen how much this man loved her daughter in the past, but broken with grief as they both were, was too much for even her.

Vaughn's eyes shot to her as she approached them quietly, Sydney's eyes lowered and she swallowed hard. "What other way?" He demanded.

"If I erase my memory," Sydney whispered. "Leave the artifact here with my mother, she can destroy it, in time. I will not remember it. I can return to my old life, to the CIA." She lifted her eyes to Vaughn, her heart breaking as he stared at her, with wide eyes. "But I cannot return to you."

Vaughn felt the world come shattering down around him. His soul split apart, the darkness in his mind that he had held at bay for so long came flooding forth. He was filled with unspeakable anguish, the emotional, physical and psychological torment of the past year and a half flooding through him suddenly. He was certain then, that it had all been in vain.

He stood then, moving away from her abruptly. He felt his heart shrivel and wither away into dust, he stood stiff and unmoving. Facing the horizon that gleamed through the large bay windows on one wall, he felt the tears dry in his eyes, his heart turn cold as stone in order to withstand the pain.

"Vaughn," Sydney's voice cracked on his name and he flinched at the sound. The air between them was tense, vibrating with suppressed energy and he shuddered. 

"You have to move on," her heart was breaking as she spoke, Vaughn knew because he could feel it in his own chest. "Get married, forget me... and no matter what, don't tell me the truth about these two years. Please."

Vaughn turned to her, fire flashing in his eyes, barely suppressed rage shaking his whole frame. She stared at him fearfully, tears staining her flesh and she let out a choked sob. Vaughn could not let himself break down. He could not rush to her, wrap his arms around her and soothe away the pain. He could never do that again. It was the only way they knew to save her.

It was the only way they knew, for now. But he could find a way, if it was the last thing he did. He would bring her back to him.

At length, he could not speak for fear that he would collapse at her feet. So he did the one thing he had sworn never to do again.

He left her.

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	9. Becoming Whole

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Chapter Nine:

Becoming Whole

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Afternoon light seeped in through the window on the far wall, hours had passed since Vaughn had sat down on the bed and begun to speak. For Sydney it seemed like years, two years of words, images, emotions that were finally catching up with her. The mystery of her own identity had been solved, laid out before her by the person she trusted most in the world. She almost wished it had been someone else, anyone else, someone she could disbelieve, whose words she could cast aside. Vaughn was the only person she knew that she could fully trust, even after all that had been said and done when that trust had come so close to breaking, he had reaffirmed it a hundred times over in the telling.

She was staring dully at the blanket, tracing the curve of the thread with her eyes but scarcely seeing the pattern. It was woven inextricably into a thousand other threads, disappearing beneath the fabric. She could not see where it began or where it ended, only the seams that frayed beneath her fingertips. 

Vaughn sat before her in silence, his story finished but far from complete. She could guess at what had happened next, knew her own mind well enough to anticipate what she had done from there. She had broken his heart, her own heart, she knew that the prophecy would not have been the only reason to erase her memories. She had erased the heartache, the pain, the nightmares of her torture that had kept her awake at night. She had smoothed it away from the canvas of her mind only to awake with a new set of these emotions. A new heartache when she had seen that ring on her finger, a new pain of losing her life and though her mind had forgotten, her soul could not forget the torture that arose in her nightmares. She realized now why she had felt so displaced upon awakening in Hong Kong, so many times in the past months she had bitterly voiced her feeling that her life had been stolen from her and only now did she realize that she had done it to herself. 

She looked up at Vaughn to find his eyes turned away from her, his head hung low. Tears slid silently down his cheeks, dropping and drying on outstretched hands. Only now did she realize how much she had cost him, his own life, his integrity, had all been sacrificed to save her. She could practically see his heart lying broken within his chest, old wounds torn open where they had never fully healed. Once again, he had done this for her.

Sydney closed her eyes and took a deep breath, his words sank into her brain and a strange calm settled over her. She had done this, there was no going back, she could only go forward and correct her mistakes.

When she opened her eyes again, she could see the sunlight flickering in through the shadows. It smoothed gently across his face, his hunched form that shook with silent sobs. A lump rose in her throat, a deep sorrow consuming her. The first mistake she had to correct was the biggest, she had to make this right.

She let herself go, abandoned all thought and leaned forward to throw her arms around him. The force of her impact forced him onto his back, a slight gasp escaping his lips as she covered her body with his. She nuzzled her head into the curve of his neck, kissing the soft skin that she found there and held him close to her. Wrapping herself around him, they curled together naturally as if they had been molded to fit into one another. The solid feel of his chest, rising and falling beneath her own quelled any doubts in her mind. 

His initial shock subsided and he wrapped his arms around her gratefully, a guttural sob escaping him as he realized what this meant. She was not angry with him for leaving her, for hiding the truth from her. His fear calmed somewhat and was filled with an overwhelming sense of relief that mingled with waves of sorrow.

"I'm so sorry," he whispered as he shook his head. Sydney felt the tears burst free from behind closed eyelids and she laughed through her tears.

"Don't," she laid her hand over his lips and shook her head, her hair tickling his neck. He kissed her fingertips gently and closed his eyes, willing the images of memory away into darkness where they belonged.

"God, Vaughn, everything that I've done to you..." She shook her head in disbelief, "You never gave up on me, not once. Even when I asked you to do so, demanded that you move on, you didn't. You kept searching for a way to get me back."

"I love you," he whispered. "I would do anything for you. Even if you tell me not to," he smiled sadly and turned his head to look at her. Her lips met his halfway for an intricate dance of love, fighting away the pain and the tears, washing away the lingering nightmare of what lay behind them. 

The kiss changed halfway through, moving from a tender reaffirmation of love to a hungry, gasping need. Vaughn sensed the subtle change in her as she tightened her grip on him, fingers digging ever so slightly into his flesh and then relaxing with a moaning sigh.

"Syd," he heard his own voice moan her name softly though could not remember doing so. The raw emotion that colored his voice awoke an unknown strength inside of her, a flame kindling from a few sparks. She responded by kissing him harder, dancing with him through the exchange of lips clashing, mouth on skin, no need for air when they could breathe each other in.

She shifted suddenly, the weakness that had risen to grip her limbs during the telling of his memories falling away beneath his familiar touch. He made her strong again, gave her wings to fly again. Sydney pulled herself upright, straddling him easily, lips still connected to his, never daring to break contact.

His hands, tangled in her hair, slid down the curve of her spine and slid beneath the thin fabric of her tank top. His fingers were cold on her but quickly became warmed on the heat of her flesh. She could not feel the chill, only a different kind of fire that raced through her from his touch. An icy fire, blue flame that ignited in the deep green of his eyes as they snapped open to stare into her.

Sydney leaned back, finally breaking away from his kiss to arch her back. Head thrown back, her hips moved against his, finding the hardness that awaited her beneath layers of fabric. A smile flashed across her face before the mouth opened once more to emit a soft moan as the familiar fire rushed through her. Face flushed, body burning, she looked down at him, palms flat against his chest, fingers gripping the cloth of his shirt tightly.

Catching sight of her face, he smiled up at her and she stopped suddenly, transfixed by the sight. That smile she had longed to see for so long, a genuine smile of joy that creased his face, crinkling at the corners of the mouth, even smoothing the seemingly permanent wrinkles on his forehead away. She had memorized that smile over two years ago, and had longed for it ever since. It was free of shadow and seemed to dazzle her eyes with his innate light.

Vaughn caught her hesitation and did not question it, instead he took the opportunity to turn the tables on her. Lifting himself from where he lay, flat on his back on the bed, he looped his arms around her back and settled himself into a sitting position, facing her. Their lips were only inches apart, noses brushing together as he stared deep into her eyes, that smile still on his face. It took her breath away.

Tenderly, he cupped her cheek in the palm of his hand and kissed her face. Her eyelids flickered, heavy with desire as he planted kisses on each eye, cheek, the corners of her mouth, the tip of her nose, in a silent appraisal. She found herself smiling back, the flame burning ever brighter wherever he touched her. 

"Syd," he murmured her name between kisses. She opened her eyes to look at him, the question written in his eyes. She shook her head and halted any further discussion.

"Vaughn," his name was a husky whisper that elicited a low groan from him as she punctuated it with a sharp twist of her hips against his. "I don't think its very fair that the last time I remember us making love is over two years ago, in an apartment that has long since burned to the ground." She nuzzled his face with her's, wrapping her arms around him and pulling even closer until her breasts were pressed against his chest, hips locked together. 

"I believe that you have a much more recent memory that I'm not aware of," he could see a faint sparkle of mischief in her eyes, one that he recognized from long ago but it brought a sudden fierce joy to him that it never had before. There had been a time, not too long ago, when he had been convinced that he would never see her eyes sparkle like that again.

"So..." Vaughn drew the word out slowly, licking his lips as he glanced her up and down, almost playfully. "What are you suggesting?"

Sydney brought her lips close to his ear, the breath hissing across it and causing him to squirm slightly beneath her. "I want you to show me," it was a simple request that contained a faint thread of the sadness she felt at not being able to remember. He felt a pang suddenly, deep in his chest and hugged her close to him, stroking the bare flesh of her back with a soft touch. 

Not another word was needed, he was more than happy to oblige her request. 

Sliding his hands down her back, he gripped the edge of her tank top and ripped it free from her body with one swift motion. Gripping her hand, he moved it to the hem of his t-shirt and let go, watching as her fingers curled around the cloth knowingly. He hesitated as she pulled at his shirt, aware of what she would find beneath. Sydney seemed unaware of his hesitation and looked into his eyes, challenging him to deny him this. Swallowing hard, he obediently raised his arms and she stripped the t-shirt from him, smiling as she did so.

Her smile faded as she looked down at his chest, transforming swiftly to an expression of shock. Her eyes darkened, shadows falling across the light of joy that had struggled to take up residence. 

"Vaughn..." She shuddered, partly from the heat that he was inflicting on her and from the thought of who had done this to him, and why. He shook his head and gripped her hand, placing it over his heart where the scars had faded away into memory.

The feel of his heart pounding beneath the palm of her hand soothed her anger and she sighed softly. Gently, she traced the labyrinth of scars that streaked his flesh with shaking fingertips, the exact same way she had done the last time... She looked up into his eyes, suddenly filled with pain, all laughter gone from her eyes and replaced instead by an overwhelming sorrow and a burning anger against those that had done this to them.

He shook his head, unable to explain what she knew in her heart had been done to him. There were deeper scars that could not be seen, those were the ones that mattered the most. The pain of his flesh had long since faded but the pain in his heart was what remained fresh. He sighed beneath her gentle touch as her hand smoothed over the scars, he could not place what exactly had caused those particular scars. It may have been the whips, or those needles of fire... It could have been his own fingers clawing at his flesh. It didn't matter anymore. 

Leaning forward, he gripped her hand tightly where it stopped on a particular jagged scar. Stroking her face, he turned her eyes away from the scars that marred his flesh and to him. Capturing her lips in a gentle kiss, he brought the heat surging back up within her. When he broke away, gasping for air, all he could whisper was the same thing he had said to her then.

"This makes it worth it," he leaned his forehead against hers and looked down to see his fingers touch the soft swell of her stomach. He eased his hand down across the wetness that awaited him and back up again. She moaned in desire and arched her hips against his hand but it was already gone. "I would take a lifetime of pain for one moment of your pleasure." Again the fingers slipped down into her, stroking her softly, stirring the embers that burned within. She let out a gasp, eyelids fluttering and she pulled him closer to her.

"Scars fade, Syd." His words were tangled echoes in her head, reverberating as though she had heard them before. "But my love for you will never fade."

Sydney cried out as his fingers pressed deeper into her, his lips suckling softly at the spot on her neck where he knew she was the most sensitive. He still knew her perfectly, even after all this time. A hundred years could pass and he would still know exactly where to touch her to hear that guttural cry that only he could elicit from her.

He no longer even saw her scars, the first time, the last time, he had been as angry as she was. In the long nights since then, he had seen them over and over again in his mind, cursing himself for not being able to prevent them. In this moment however, those scars were not even visible to him, all he could see was her. She was whole, unbroken and alive and that was all that mattered.

Sydney's hand slipped past the scars and down to the zipper of his pants. Her hand hesitated there, as Vaughn lowered his lips to her exposed flesh. His hands gripped fistfuls of her hair, tangling it between his fingers and ever so gently he pulled her head back as he kissed the curve of her neck, nuzzling the spot beneath her ear that caused her to gasp suddenly in heightened pleasure. His lips traveled down to the hollow of her throat, placing a gentle kiss there, hands coming around to grip her shoulders and keep her still as he moved to her breasts.

Sydney sighed, a sound of contentment as he nuzzled against her breast. She barely even noticed as his hands moved around to push her shoulders back gently, easing her down onto her back on the bed. His mouth covered one nipple, teasing it to attention, his touch shooting sparks across her nerves. Her breath quickened, heart pounding beneath his lips and she could feel him smile against her flesh.

She realized that she still clutched the zipper of his pants and as soon as the thought came to her, she unzipped it and he swiftly lifted his body to kick the pants off, taking her sweatpants along with them in one fluid motion that she could not quite comprehend.

They were tangled together on the twisted sheets, the bare flesh of their bodies separated only by his boxers and her thin panties. Vaughn moved away from her breast, his hands stroking her sides softly, running up and down until they came to the waistband of her underwear and swiftly, he stripped them off of her.

She lay naked before him, the sight filling his vision even as her heat singed his flesh, his heart pounded in his chest. She could feel his eyes, devouring her hungrily and she smiled at him, crooked one finger and murmured, "What are you waiting for?"

He grinned and then froze, his mind reeling back in his memory to that moment when she had been sprawled naked before him, blonde hair contrasting oddly with pale skin and had beckoned him with one finger and asked that same question.

The touch of her hand on his skin roused him from the memories and she grinned at him, pulling him down onto her. Skillful hands slid down the length of his back to where the cloth of his boxers hid what was hidden beneath. She tore the boxers off of him, almost angry at them for being in her way and he chuckled softly against soft skin. Her breath was coming faster now and she longed to touch him, pull him into her and never let go.

Vaughn sensed this and drew away from her, she almost cried out at the absence but he pulled her to him and helped to remove the remains of his boxers. Pulling her to him, he looked deep into her eyes as he slid deep into her with a suddenness that seemed long in coming. Sydney sighed in relief, the ache that burned in her flesh was not cooled but given even more fuel to the fire. The ache that resided in her heart however seemed to lessen until it could scarcely be felt beneath the waves of pleasure he triggered within her.

She wrapped her legs around his waist and with a force she did not know she possessed, pulled herself up into his arms and kissed him hungrily. Lips crashed together as he thrust into her, slowly at first and then building with intensity as she rocked harder and harder against him. Locked together, they breathed into each other and breathed one another in, exhaling any lingering remnants of pain that clung to their hearts, any darkness that cast their soul in shadow and filled themselves with the purity of their love for one another.

Here, they were at last together, in a small room filled with sunlight and shadows. In the shadows, they seemed one figure that throbbed in pleasure, in the sunlight they could see into the depths of their own hearts and knew the truth. At long last, all masks had fallen away, lies uncovered, truths revealed. They let go of the shell that surrounded each of them. They were together and they were themselves after years of pretending to be someone else. 

"I love you," Sydney was murmuring between tangled kisses and stolen breaths. Vaughn was voicing the words silently with every thrust of his hips, every push of his cock into her, every strangled gasp. 

They crashed over the edge together, falling down beneath the depths of the water, submerging themselves in one another. Crying out, eyes locked, hearts pounding as one, they were finally whole again.

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	10. Here With Me

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Chapter Ten:

Here With Me

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It was in the twilight of her mind that she heard it, rising from the depths where she lingered between starlight and shadows. It began as a low moan, a rumbling in the ground beneath her, the earth shaking beneath her fingertips. Her thoughts rose from the depths, unconscious mind slowly becoming aware of the world around her. The sound of her name, a broken cry that spilled from broken lips woke her instantly. She glanced around for a moment in the shadows of the dawn, frowning to herself, wondering what precisely had awoken her. Then she heard it again. 

Looking down at the man beside her, pain knifed through her heart. Vaughn was curled up into a ball, fingers clutching at Sydney's skin desperately. Tears were seeping out from beneath closed eyelids and his face was contorted into a spasm of intense pain.

Gently, she reached out and touched him, one hand coming around to rest comfortingly on his back. She felt the scars on his back burn her fingers with the heat that he seemed to emanate and he cried out in pain, arching his back, mouth opening wide with shock. Sydney drew back, eyes wide and fearful. 

"Vaughn," she spoke his name softly, touching his face and bringing her lips down to plant a gentle kiss on his forehead. The sound of her voice ripped another moan from his lips and once again, her name. It was spoken in such a broken tone, filled with desperation and despair. She could only imagine what kind of torture his dreams held.

"Sydney..." His fingers clutched her tighter though he was not conscious of her presence. "Why did you have to leave me..." his words were a broken whisper. "Why do they have to break me? Don't they know I'm already gone?"

With a faint horror, Sydney realized that he was reliving his torture. She wondered how many nights he writhed in pain, only to wake, soaked in sweat and exhausted. She wondered how many nights Lauren had sat beside him and watched him suffer with pleasure, never reaching out to comfort him or take away his pain.

Sydney swallowed her anger and blinked away tears, resolving herself against this new torment. Gently she pulled him close to her, unfolding his legs away from his body and pressing up against him. The feel of her body against his seemed to quiet his moans, still his shaking flesh but not entirely. Gently she wrapped her arms around him, avoiding the scars that streaked his flesh and rubbed his back.

"It's okay, Vaughn," she brought her lips forward to whisper in his ear. "I'm here now. I'm not going away again." She kissed his damp forehead and wiped away the sweat, planted another kiss on his closed eyes, his lips. She wrapped herself around him, struggling to act as a physical shield against his demons which she knew attacked from within. Murmuring soft words of love into his ear, she held him tightly and tried to soothe away the pain.

Eventually his shaking stopped, his breathing became even and after a few moments she realized that his eyes had opened. When she gazed into them, the dark cloud seemed to clear, leaving only a dazzling green behind. Like a storm blowing away from the sea and leaving the water clear again.

"Syd..." he trailed off with a helpless frown. "What..." 

She silenced his words with a soft kiss, tasting them on her lips, every letter and consonant that would never be formed. She swallowed them and all of his words until he was left speechless, staring at her in wonder.

"You were having a bad dream," she whispered. She smoothed a loving hand across his damp face and dried his tears. His eyes darkened momentarily, the memories surging up within him. But in his conscious state, he could hold them at bay. In Sydney's arms, there was no fear or pain anymore.

Instead he just nodded and snuggled closer to her, placing a soft kiss on her arm where his fingers had left sharp red marks. Another kiss on her neck when she turned her head and again on her lips, thanking her without the words that neither of them needed to say.

"I love you," he whispered instead.

Sydney smiled at him gently, running her fingers through his hair soothingly. He shut his eyes and reveled in her touch, releasing a deep sigh as she lay her head on his chest and kissed the bare skin that she found there. They lay together in a quiet moment of peace, having awoken from the nightmares and not yet ready to face the nightmare of reality.

"Vaughn," Sydney murmured his name softly into his skin, he could feel her voice vibrate through his flesh. He opened his eyes and found her gazing up at him, biting her lower lip in concentration.

"Why...If I asked you not tell me the truth..." Sydney shook her head and eased herself up, leaving him cold without the touch of her skin.

"Why are you telling me now?"

Vaughn squeezed his eyes shut and scrubbed at them tiredly with heavy fingers. When his vision cleared, Sydney was still sitting before him, gazing at him with earnest and somewhat apprehensive expression on her face. He leaned forward and grasped her hand, lacing his fingers through hers and kissing the palm gently. 

"Because," he whispered into her skin. "It is time."

Sydney's frown grew deeper, eyes growing darker. "Time?" Her voice shook on the word, as if she did not want to know what it meant.

Vaughn shook his head, "I remained in contact with Irina even after you asked me to leave. She and I were struggling to figure out a way around the prophecy. We agreed that only when we had come up with a solution would I tell you the truth." He shook his and turned his eyes away momentarily, seeing, for the first time, the early morning light that was beginning to stream in the window on the far wall. It illuminated Sydney from behind, lighting her in a golden halo before him and casting him in shadow.

"She contacted me a few days ago and told me that it was time, she could not offer an explanation but I would have taken any opportunity to tell you." He shook his head, jaw clenching with contained anger. "What I want, more than anything, Syd, is to end this. I never want to lie to you ever again." His words were punctuated by a vehemence that was not akin to his nature, but yet the feeling was familiar to Sydney. She knew how he felt.

"I still find it so bizarre that you're trusting my mother in all of this," she shook her head and Vaughn felt his heart sink in his chest. 

"I didn't want to at first," he confided in her. "I knew you wouldn't have either, after the way she betrayed you." He shook his head and smoothed down the stray strands of Sydney's hair that had been tousled in her sleep. She softened beneath his touch and smiled at him gratefully, clasping her hand over his. 

"But Jack convinced me... I would have made a deal with the devil if I knew it would have brought you back. I tried to think that I was not asking my father's killer for help, but the mother of the woman I love. I had to put everything in perspective and judge what I was willing to sacrifice." He leaned forward and kissed her softly on the cheek where a tear had landed, spilling from her eye and dappling her flesh.

"You've sacrificed so much, Vaughn." Sydney shook her head and sighed. "You've sacrificed too much for the sake of me."

"No," he kissed her knuckles and sighed, tracing the lines in her palm with his breath. "I had to put aside my hatred for your mother in order to focus on the Covenant. We all knew that, we all understood that. Jack made me see..." he trailed off and shook his head soundlessly, rubbing closed eyes.

"It sounds like my father helped you through a lot after I died," Sydney spoke softly, seeing the pain that was written in every line of his body. Vaughn nodded and looked up at her, eyes dark with memory that she would never know.

"We helped each other," he whispered. "We had both lost you and neither of us really had anyone else who understood what it was like. Losing you was not just like losing a lover or a daughter, it was like losing our very souls." He pulled her to him with one hand clasped tightly in hers and she came easily to his chest, wrapping her arms around him. He rested his forehead against hers and kissed her gently.

"Our worlds had been torn apart... Its incredible the strength that can come from a bond formed of loss... I've lost my father and the woman I loved. Jack had lost his only child and both of the woman he loved. For the first time, we had no reason to be suspicious of one another or resentful. He was no longer worried about how I might hurt you, only grateful for how I had loved you."

Sydney was staring down at their entwined fingers, his thumb gently stroking the soft skin of her wrist. Their hands were beginning to blur into an indistinguishable lump of lines and color in her vision as she struggled to blink away the tears that seeped out.

"I want it to end," she whispered, she was barely aware of the words leaving her mouth until she heard them hanging above their heads. They were like a cloud in the room, waiting for the breeze to scatter them.

Vaughn only slipped his arms further around her and hugged her close, kissing her neck gently where his head rested in the curve. "I know," he murmured against her flesh. "It's only a matter of time now."

"Where do we go from here?" Sydney asked, she was watching the play of the sunlight against the wall behind Vaughn. The simple dance of the sun's rays seemed too beautiful for the shadows that shrouded them, covered them with a cloak of heaviness.

"We go to Irina," Vaughn smiled against her skin and pulled back to look her in the eyes. "Or, if I know your parents at all by now, she will find us. More than likely, Jack would have contacted your mother after you called him to inform him that you were leaving the country. Irina is probably searching for us as we speak." As he spoke, a faint beeping met their ears. Vaughn smiled in satisfaction and leaned over to retrieve his duffel bag from beside the bed. As he rummaged through it, the beeping grew louder and Sydney could discern a pattern emerging in the notes.

"Morse code?" She asked, "Very typical of my mother."

Vaughn shrugged, "We needed something simple, something that no one would suspect." Triumphantly he pulled out a watch from the bag, Sydney recognized it as the one he had shown her years earlier. 

"Your father's watch?" She frowned when he didn't respond, his head bowed low as he concentrated on the pattern of the beats. After a few minutes, the beeping faded and slowed to a stop. Vaughn smiled in satisfaction and slid the watch onto his wrist, securing the leather band in place.

"A replica of my father's watch," Vaughn told her as he lifted his wrist to show her the face of the clock. "This one works, Irina sent it to me after she had encoded the transmittor inside. Lauren believes that this is my father's watch however, she knows that it has sentimental value to me so she wouldn't question why I often have it on me. Nor would she question the alarm that is, in reality, a message. She doesn't know much about morse code and even if she did, she wouldn't realize the message until much analysis."

Sydney nodded thoughtfully, still marveling at the unending stupidity of Vaughn's partner. "But you know the code, so what does my mother have to say?"

"She is saying that we have to go," Vaughn was already getting out of the bed as he spoke. Sydney watched him for a moment, brows knit in thought but she did not question him. He dropped her clothes on the bed and she took a moment to admire the sleek curve of his body as he stretched and pulled his clothes on.

He could feel her gaze on him and turned to her curiously, the expression on her face made him smile. The warmth of her eyes fueling his strength. "What?"

Sydney smirked and shook her head, "Nothing." She pulled on her own clothes and was ready to go within minutes.

"Where are we going?" She asked him.

"Kiev," he told her. "Back to Kiev." She could hear a note of bitterness that lingered in his voice and gently, she touched his shoulder. He relaxed instantly under her fingertips but she could still feel the tension lingering in him.

"I haven't been back there since I left you," he admitted and his eyes flashed with anger at his own words. He still could not forgive himself, but never once did he place any blame on her.

Sydney nodded and bit her lip, "There is something else." It was not a question, merely an observation on his tense stance, the coiled energy that sprung to life in him.

Vaughn bit his lip, eyes darting around the room that had seemed so cozy before. Now the shadows were threatening, caging him in, hiding unseen dangers. The walls seemed to close in on him and he caught himself making a mental list of every escape route.

"The Covenant is onto our trail," he admitted. "Irina intercepted transmissions between them or something, morse code is only so clear in its message. They are searching for us and we are very close to being found, we have to get to your mother as soon as possible. She has a plane waiting for us at a private airfield nearby."

He could see the fear in her eyes, flickering slowly like a flame that she struggled to stamp down. She was always so fearless but after hearing what they had done to her, and to Vaughn, she could not help but be afraid. 

Sydney grasped his hand in her own, the strength of her grip surprising him suddenly as she overwhelmed him with her outward mask of courage. He knew that the mask served to quell the flames of her fear as well as the knowledge that he was at her side.

"Okay," she nodded and swallowed hard. "Let's go."

He gazed at her for a long moment before picking up their bags from beside the bed and grasping her hand tightly. There was a moment of stillness, a silent decision between them, before they took a collective step toward the door.

It was then, as they moved to leave the room, that they heard a scuffling on the outside. Exchanging anxious glances, they stepped back and their hands strayed for their respective guns as the door banged open with a noise that shook the stillness and destroyed it from the inside out.

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	11. The Gathering Clouds

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Chapter Eleven:

The Gathering Clouds

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Standing back to back, guns drawn and poised at the ready, Sydney and Vaughn were prepared for whoever would come through that door. They stood together, drawing in the same breath as one, challenging anyone or anything that might break them apart. Fingers tensed and wrapped around the trigger, there was a thick tension that hung in the air until clarity settled over them and they allowed themselves to relax.

Jack was standing in the doorway, looking from Sydney to Vaughn with an anxious expression. Sydney felt a breath of relief rush from her lungs and she dropped the gun, hearing as it clattered to the floor only after she rushed into her father's open arms.

"Dad! What are you doing here?" Jack hugged his daughter tightly to him, curious eyes darting around the room before landing on the still form of Vaughn. 

Vaughn was still standing with his gun leveled at Jack's head, when their eyes met, he dropped the gun to his side with a sigh and shook his head ruefully. "Just to let you know, Jack, I'm still tempted to shoot you."

Jack chuckled and shook his head as Sydney broke away from him. She looked at Vaughn with eyebrows raised but when she saw the flicker of amusement in his eyes, she couldn't help but laugh softly herself. 

"You're being tracked," Jack told them, all humor vanishing from his tone. "The message that you just received was not from Irina, it was from Lauren. She is trying to trick you into falling into her trap." He was looking at Vaughn as he spoke, though his answer was in response to Sydney. He could see the way Vaughn's eyes darkened in response. They had both learned to read between the lines of what the other said and did, working together almost as fluidly as they worked with Sydney.

"We were on our way out," Vaughn said simply, he glanced at Sydney as she took her own gun from his other hand where he had picked it up off the floor. He smiled at her lovingly and she gripped his hand tightly, glancing from him to his father. Jack could read the words that had been spoken, the volumes that were now held between them.

"You told her." Jack's words were a quiet affirmation of all that had transpired between them. Vaughn simply nodded, his eyes flashing with pain before he lowered them. 

"It was time, Jack. You and I both know that." His words were spoken to the floor, eyes lowered, not in guilt over what he had done but in that he had not done it sooner.

Jack just shook his head, "I know, I just wish it didn't have to be like this."

"Why did you come?" Vaughn asked as he picked up the bag he had dropped. "It's too dangerous, Jack. We agreed to let me handle this."

"I'm not doubting your competence, Michael." Jack picked up Sydney's bags before her fingers could close over the handle. Sydney could not help but stand back and watch with some disbelief, the exchange between her father and Vaughn. For so long they spoke of one another with suspicion and scorn and now there seemed to be affection between them, a warmth that had come from despair.

"Jack," Vaughn's voice was filled with anxiety now and he frowned as he stepped closer. "What is it?"

"Lauren has vanished, she is obviously searching for the two of you." Jack shook his head and leveled his gaze on the younger man, "We have both seen the horrors that this woman is capable of. This is personal for her now, you deceived her, outwitted her in her own game and she is not going to take that lightly. She's out for blood, Vaughn and she won't stop with you."

"Lauren isn't smart enough to find us on her own." Vaughn's words were filled with disdain but Sydney could hear the fear that lurked beneath them. 

"No, she is not," Jack agreed quietly. "But she is cunning enough, and with the entire Covenant backing her up, it is only a matter of time."

Vaughn felt his mouth go dry, he stared at Jack, terror rising within his eyes. Sydney was standing back, watching them with an odd feeling of detachment. As if she stood outside herself and was looking in from the outside, waiting for everything to snap into place.

"Jack," Vaughn's voice was a raspy whisper as he stumbled backward. "I can't let them find me again, I won't let them have Sydney. You know what they'll do to us..."

Jack stepped forward and gripped Vaughn by the shoulders, shaking him slightly and bringing him back to himself. Vaughn's eyes cleared and he stared at Jack, silently pleading with him. Sydney felt as if she were missing something, like there was a piece of the puzzle that she had not yet fit into place.

"Why do you think I'm here, Michael?" Jack's eyes hardened and he glanced at Sydney. She could see the fear in her father's eyes and it shook her, she had rarely seen him display emotion like this except when their situation was at its most desperate.

"What the hell are we waiting for?" Sydney demanded, she clutched her bag harder, shaking off the daze she lingered in and squeezed Vaughn's hand. He seemed to suddenly became aware of her and he came to attention suddenly, his eyes clearing as they landed on her.

"You're right," Vaughn nodded. "We have to go and we have to do it now. Where is Irina?"

Sydney glanced at Vaughn, but he was not looking at her. His eyes were fixed on Jack who was turning and heading out the door. Vaughn was following him, each stride filled with purpose. Sydney followed, pulled along by Vaughn's hand and wondered what exactly she had gotten all of them into.

"She is waiting," was Jack's only response.

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Sydney could hear the two of them whispering together from where sat in the backseat of the car. She had been dozing lightly, gathering her strength but the sound of her father and Vaughn murmuring in conspiratorial tones made her uneasy. It was odd to see them working so closely, getting along so easily. She knew that they were probably discussing her but she didn't pay attention to the low rush of words that hovered just below her hearing. Her mind was whirling, as she processed all of the information that had been thrown her way in the past twenty-four hours and the plan that she would need to formulate in order to get out of this alive. 

She knew one thing for certain, she was not going to spend her life running and hiding from the Covenant. They had taken too much from her already, they had stolen two years of her life, her identity and Vaughn. They had taken so much from Vaughn, it still hurt to imagine it. The scars on his flesh could not do justice to the true pain he had endured on her behalf.

Her eyes fluttered open, gazing blindly out the window as the world rushed past her. Her eyes drifted beyond the world outside to focus on her own reflection in the glass. She had changed disguises once more, dark haired once more with glasses. She barely recognize herself, this pale woman who had withdrawn into herself for so long. She craved so badly to be able to escape herself. The night before, when she and Vaughn had made love, she had felt real and complete for the first time in years. Now that contentment had changed once more to an uneasy fear, the precognition that something terrible was going to happen and she did not know how to stop it.

She was drawn from her musings by raised voices in the front of the car. Frowning, she turned to see her father and Vaughn arguing with a quiet intensity. She could not see Jack's face from her angle but Vaughn was clearly visible to her and his expression was contorted into a pure rage. He was shaking his head vehemently and gesturing with his hands.

"No, Jack! What could posses you to think that this is a good idea? You, of all people, know how dangerous it is." Vaughn shook his head and ran a shaking hand through his hair, tugging at the roots in frustration. 

"Michael, we are running out of time and we ran out of options long ago. This is the only way. You know that Irina has deciphered more of the text that have led her to believe..."

"Belief? I don't trust belief, Jack, and I can't believe that the two of you would blindly trust it as well when it comes to Sydney. I need some facts here, I'm not going to risk her life again based on belief in these damn prophecies!" Vaughn's voice was fueled by anger now and a consuming fear that Sydney recognized all too well. He was terrified for her life.

"Michael!" Jack slammed one hand against the steering wheel in frustration, keeping his eyes fixed on the road. "It is possible that she could change everything, what it all comes down to is what she chooses to do."

"What she chooses? She can't even remember her own decisions, Jack! You don't know what it was like to have to tell her, you didn't see her face, the way her heart broke..." Vaughn turned his face away and rubbed at his eyes wearily, discreetly wiping away any impending tears. Jack glanced at him quickly and sighed, his head drooping.

"I know," he said softly. "But she had to know the history behind this, it will be hard for her to realize that we have all made a mistake. But in the long run, it may be for the better."

"Better for who?" Vaughn asked wearily, "Better for Sydney?"

"Okay, excuse me," Sydney broke through their heated discussion, her words like ice that froze them instantly. "But I am right here and it would be nice if one of you remembered that once in awhile. Maybe you're so used to arguing over me that you just forgot about my presence but I would like to have some input into my own life. Neither of you have the right to make any decision for me," She was filled with a sudden fire that flared within her unexpectedly. All of the helplessness and feeling of weakness that had overcome her in the past few days overwhelmed her suddenly and angered her. She was not weak, she was not a child, she didn't deserve to be spoken of as if she was.

Silence filled the car, Jack's head dropped and he did not respond. Vaughn's head whipped around to face her, face contorted with an anguished expression of hurt. There was pain in his verdant eyes and Sydney felt a wave of guilt wash over her, she hadn't meant to snap at him in such a way. In a split second however, the hurt vanished from his face and was replaced by a cold, emotionless facade. She gritted her teeth at the sudden transformation and sighed, but his eyes were still filled with heartbreak.

"Vaughn," she reached out and touched his shoulder, soothing him gently. "I'm sorry... but you know me, you understand how I feel. I know you're trying to protect me," she leaned forward and kissed him gently. "But I am still capable of defending myself."

He smiled weakly and shook his head, "I'm sorry. Its just... hard." He flinched under the sting of his own words and shifted uncomfortably.

"Now, what are you talking about?" She glanced from one to the other, questions written in her gaze. Jack did not turn to her, he seemed unable to move his eyes from the road. He was tense, fingers clutching the wheel so hard that his knuckles had turned white. Sydney recognized this trait in her father, not as anger, but an intense fear that gripped him. 

"What did Mom find?" Sydney asked, her voice breaking on this last question. She was suddenly very afraid, unsure of whether or not she wanted to know the answer to her question. Vaughn glanced at Jack and seeing him not respond, shook his head.

"Its probably best if we let Irina explain it to you... She knows more about Rambaldi than any of us and she is the one who made this discovery. Then you can make your own decision on where we go from there." He tried to smile in reassurance but Sydney could still hear the tremor in his voice, the wavering of his lips. These were two of the strongest men she knew and beneath their masks of cold strength, they were both terrified for her and she didn't even know why.

Sydney nodded slowly, "Okay..." Vaughn kissed her cheek softly and cupped her face in his hand. He studied her for a long moment as she watched him, wondering what was going on in his head.

"I love you," he whispered. Sydney smiled, all anger easing out of her heart and turned her face to kiss the palm of his hand.

"I love you too."

For a moment they lingered, enthralled by one another. Both were afraid of what was coming, filled with sorrow over what had past but one thing that mattered most was that they had each other. In this time, when they needed one another most, they were together. She had his strength when she was lost and confused and he had hers. 

The moment was broken by the car abruptly screeching to a stop. Their eyes broke away from one another and looked around in confusion, dazed from the intensity of their moment.

Jack just looked at them as he was getting out of the car and said in a brisk tone, "We're here. Come on."

Glancing around, Sydney saw that they were at a private airfield and she recalled that this is where she and Vaughn had been headed before Jack had arrived. Something tickled in the back of her mind, that there was something she should be connecting here but everything that had overloaded her with information in the past day seemed to drown the thought out. She shook her head in vain attempt to clear it and inhaled deeply. Clutching her bag tightly, she got out of the car to face whatever might come her way this time. 

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	12. Into The Heavens

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Chapter Twelve:

Into the Heavens

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A cold wind stole through her flesh, biting into her senses and raising the hair on the back of her neck. Sydney shivered and clutched the jacket around her, she only vaguely realized now that it was Vaughn's leather jacket. She could smell his distinct scent that arose from the folds of the soft leather and reveled in it. Something so simple comforted her in this moment when nothing was simple.

She didn't hear him as he slipped up noiselessly beside her but she could sense his presence as it drew near. He eased one arm around her waist, his hand coming to rest on the small of her back. She looked up at him and smiled, there was love in his eyes as he looked down at her but that ever present fear still lingered. She could see it in his expression, lurking in the shadows of the shifting green of his eyes. 

"You ready?" His words were a soft murmur, lost on the wind but she knew they lingered between them. She just nodded and braved a smile.

"Always."

Together they walked up the ramp and into the plane where her parents awaited them. Sydney cast one glance back at the outside world, the slow drape of the sunlight across the city beyond. The warmth of the sun seemed to fade as it fell across her, leaving only an eerie sensation of cold, clear light. 

Inside the plane, there was some degree of warmth but Sydney could not shake the chill from her bones. She felt warm only where Vaughn's hand touched her, low on her back, supporting her if she were ever to fall. 

The door slid shut behind them silently, Sydney could not hear the click but felt the absence of the wind on her back. She was enclosed now in yet another plane, but in a way she felt as if she were imprisoned here. Shaking off the feeling, she looked up to meet the eyes of her mother.

Irina was standing before her, an indescribable expression on her face. She was a woman constantly surrounded by an air of mystery but there was something in her eyes that Sydney recognized, a flicker of emotion that she had seen before. 

"Mom," Sydney didn't know what to say but Irina halted any further words by rushing forward to embrace her daughter tightly.

"Sydney, are you okay?" She pulled back slightly, inspecting her daughter's face for any signs of distress. Sydney shook her head, and pulled out of her mother's arms to fall back to Vaughn's side.

"I'm fine, Mom," She shook her head and her gaze slid slowly from her mother to Jack, where he sat behind Irina, watching them with a cool expression. "I'm just a little confused."

Irina nodded, "Of course. That's understandable, Vaughn has told you much but there is still so much that you don't know." With these words, Irina's eyes turned to land on Vaughn. Sydney could feel him flinch slightly beneath her gaze but it was a rather calm reaction to the woman who had killed his father. 

"Irina," Vaughn nodded briskly at her and Sydney felt his hand sneak around to grip hers tightly. He was drawing on her strength once more and she let him take it, knowing that they could only get through this together.

"Michael, thank you for bringing her."

Vaughn's gaze hardened as he watched Irina carefully, "I don't like this plan, Irina."

Sydney watched as her mother's face transformed from a pleasant mask into a fierce scowl, "None of us like it, Michael. But it is what must be done."

Vaughn's face contorted into an expression of disgust and he shook his head, "Irina, there has to be another way-" His words were cut off by a sharp gesture from Sydney, who was shaking her head furiously.

"Stop right there. Before the three of you go any further with these vague riddles, I want some answers. This has to do with me and I won't have any of you making this decision for me, whatever it may be."

There was a glint in Irina's eyes as Sydney spoke that was similar to pride, "You're absolutely right, Sydney. Men don't always realize that women can use their own minds when it comes to their lives."

Sydney could hear Vaughn growl deep in his throat and almost laughed, Irina grinned at her daughter and for one eternal moment between them there was nothing but a mother and her daughter. A pride and love that transcended all other broken bonds of betrayal and sacrifice.

"Come," Irina placed one hand on Sydney's shoulder and eased her toward her father. "Sit down and I'll try to explain what I've uncovered."

Sydney eased down into a seat opposite her mother, Vaughn took up his position by her side, facing Jack. Sydney could feel a look being exchanged between the two men but she ignored it, focusing on her mother and what she had to say.

"Sydney, I understand that Vaughn has told you much of what occurred during the two years that are missing from your memory." Irina's eyes flickered to Vaughn, who lowered his eyes and looked away. He gripped Sydney's hand tightly and she squeezed his back in reassurance. His eyes lowered to the entwined hands and did not move away. 

Irina studied him carefully before turning her attention back to her daughter. She was not surprised to see Sydney's eyes flash with fire at the thought that Irina had brought up some unwanted memories in the man she loved. Irina had seen this bond between them before and still she could not help but marvel at it, despite herself.

"Yes," the one word issued from Sydney's lips was tense and pregnant with emotion. "I know that you helped Dad and Vaughn find me," her tone softened and she glanced at Vaughn. "I know that you helped Vaughn to withstand the Covenant's torture," She swallowed hard and fixed her eyes on her mother. "And I thank you for that."

"Interesting, only six months ago you cursed me for doing just that."

Sydney frowned, eyebrows knitting together in alarm. "What? Why?"

Irina shook her head, "Its not important now, Sydney. You didn't agree with all of my...methods."

Vaughn flinched and Sydney glanced at him in alarm, wondering what else she had erased from her memory that now came back to haunt her. Vaughn met her eyes and shook his head slightly, as if pleading with her to let it go and she did, reluctantly. Her gaze seemed to give him back a measure of strength that he had lost in the presence of her mother. He sat up straighter and turned his steely gaze on Irina.

"You told her about the prophecy?" Irina asked. 

"Yes," Vaughn's voice was filled a suppressed anger. "Though I don't see why it was necessary. Wasn't that the reason for the memory erasure in the first place?"

Irina bit her lip, "Yes...but upon further analysis of the Rambaldi device and the prophecy, I discovered that I may have been wrong."

Vaughn tensed beside Sydney, "Wrong?" The word was uttered in a low hiss, filled with rage. "What do you mean?"

"It is possible, highly likely in fact, that the text was misinterpreted." Irina shifted slightly, the only indication that she was uncomfortable with her own failure. "In fact, its possible that all the Rambaldi prophecies have been misinterpreted."

"How?" Sydney demanded, the fear that had been rising within her this whole time swelled suddenly.

In response, Irina opened a slim briefcase that sat beside her and withdrew a yellowed parchment. She set it on the low table between them, facing Sydney. It was a copy of the prophecy from page forty-seven of the Rambaldi manuscript. Sydney found herself staring at herself and for the first time, was certain that it was her on the page and no one else.

"There are key words in every Rambaldi prophecy," Irina informed her. Sydney could not tear her eyes away from the prophecy, the words swimming before her as it had the first time she had seen it.

"This prophecy says 'this woman will render the greatest power unto utter desolation.' The CIA, the DSR, the FBI, even you thought that this was a bad thing. You were all so convinced that this would be some cataclysmic event brought about by you. This is why the DSR tried to lock you up." Irina leaned forward and gripped Sydney's free hand. "But you have to understand, Sydney, that's not what it means at all."

Sydney's mouth had gone dry, she was sure that she was injuring Vaughn with how tightly she was clutching his hand but he did not make one sign of protest against her. He was staring at Irina, falling into the net that she spread beneath their feet, waiting for them to fall. 

"What does it mean?" Vaughn asked for her, as she was suddenly unable to speak.

"Activating this Rambaldi device would mean the end of your worst enemies. Rambaldi could foresee how his works would be perverted and predicted that only you would have the power to destroy those who did so. This device would enable you to effectively destroy the Covenant," Irina's eyes darkened. "And it is possible that it will give you a chance to get your life back."

Sydney's head bowed, she swallowed hard and squeezed Vaughn's hand. After a long moment, she looked up, not to Irina, but to her father. Jack had been sitting in silence all this time, watching the interaction between the three of them with some degree of concern. 

"Dad?" His head jerked up at the sound of Sydney's voice and he smiled at her gently, attempting to assuage both of their fears.

"What do you make of all this?" She asked.

Jack cleared his throat and looked around at the strange group they made, the unusual family that had formed. "You know that I have never believed in the works of Rambaldi, Sydney. I always thought that it was a foolish obsession that Sloane destroyed his life for, that your mother destroyed our lives for." His eyes darkened and he shot a glance at Irina who merely smiled enigmatically and shook her head.

"However, there are some things that I have seen in the past two years that even I could not disregard," Jack shook his head. 

"However, this could be a chance to destroy the Covenant. To undo every evil that they have done and prevent any more from occurring. While I do not like you risking your life to do this," he smiled wryly. "I know that you will risk your life anyway. It is your choice sweetheart."

Sydney's eyes were filled with tears by the time he was done speaking, she swallowed the lump in her throat and nodded silently. Vaughn was looking at Jack with respect and a certain degree of affection that had developed between them.

Sydney nodded heavily and rose from her seat to cross the aisle and wrap her arms around her father, "Thank you." She whispered, she knew how hard it was for him to give up this degree of control that he'd struggled to hold over her entire life. In a way, she felt lost, knowing that her father was not trying to affect her decision in any one way, but it was also a type of freedom.

Sydney pulled back and Jack wiped the tears from her face gently, smiling down at her. She could see the concern in his eyes though and wanted more than anything to see him happy, not worried for her. She wanted her life back, she wanted to start over again.

Nodding to herself, coming to a silent decision, Sydney returned to her seat and looked at Vaughn. He gazed back at her, one hand covering hers, fingers tangling in a unknown pantomime of their souls. There was nothing but love on his face but she could see in his eyes, the torment that he was enduring. He was torn between protecting her and allowing her to make this decision on her own. She could see in him that he was one step away from picking her up and carrying her off into a safe place, and letting go of her hand and allowing her to do this.

She would compromise with him silently, allowing him to protect her in any way that he could as long as he allowed her to do this. This was a matter of choice, but Sydney could feel the implications hovering in the air, it was more than that. It was a matter of fate, the lives of every person in this airplane, the people she loved most, hung in the balance. She could feel it deep in her soul, she alone had the power to change their lives.

Sydney leaned her head against Vaughn's temple and he let out a long sigh, the breath swirling in eddies around her flesh, stirring her hair softly. He knew what her decision would be before she even made it. 

"Love you," she whispered, kissing his forehead. He smiled sadly and cupped her face in his hands, kissing her gently.

"Love you," he echoed her words in response, feeling something inside of him break as he did so. He had no control over this, he had lost something somewhere along the way. He could not lose her.

Sydney stroked his face with one hand and offered him a smile of encouragement before turning back to her mother and asking, "What must I do?"

Irina smiled at her daughter and opened a panel on the table before her, pressing a small button and speaking into it in Russian. Sydney recognized an order for the plane to take off and recognized the familiar movement of the plane as it prepared for lift-off.

"You know by now what you must do, Sydney. You have known it all along, you must fulfill your destiny. You must activate the Rambaldi device and destroy the Covenant."

Beyond the window, they were lifting up to the sky, breaking free of the clouds that had clung to them so tightly. But Sydney did not notice.

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	13. Into The Fire

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Chapter Thirteen:

Into The Fire

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Drifting through the clouds, Sydney felt as though she were weightless. An odd sense of calm settled over her, blanketed her in a peaceful shroud. Vaughn's arms were wrapped tightly around her, his head resting on her shoulder as she stared out the window at the vast expanse of sky beyond. The knowledge of the truth she had learned seemed to wash over her like a tide, pulling back and then consuming her once more. Only now the pain had receded, the sorrow, the anger, all had faded away the moment she had made her decision. She would end it now, once and for all, and then she could be free. Vaughn would be free. She didn't know how it would happen or what she had to do in order to achieve it, she would not know until the time came. She felt this knowledge settle deep inside her, emerging from the depths of all else she had learned. The final lesson in all of this was that she had made her own choices, many of them had been wrong, but she could still choose to make it right.

Irina and Jack had left the two of them alone to gather their thoughts, the two of them had retreated to the back of the plane where they seemed to be discussing her decision in hushed intensity. Sydney ignored them, all that mattered at this moment was that she and Vaughn were safe. They were together and she was going to do everything in her power to keep it that way.

"Are you sure about this?" Vaughn's voice drifted into her ear, his lips hovering over the flesh before dropping down to plant a kiss beneath her earlobe. His grip on her tightened unconsciously and she knew that he was more frightened than she was, of what she had to do.

"I'm sure," Sydney whispered. Her breath fogged against the glass of the window, creating a distorted reflection of the two of them. His eyes sought hers out in the glass and she smiled gently. "I don't want to run anymore, Vaughn." 

A sigh drifted from his lips, caressing her gently and he nodded imperceptibly against her shoulder. Dropping his eyes, he pressed his lips to the curve of her neck and seemed lost in thought. "I'll be with you every step of the way," he assured her, though she knew he was really reassuring himself. As long as he was with her, he believed that he could control the circumstances around them. He believed that he could protect her. Sydney knew that he was more than capable of doing so but in her heart, she wondered if he could withstand this kind of power. The power that Rambaldi had created. They had both seen what his power had done, the extent of damage that could be inflicted. 

There remained only one difference between them now, Vaughn still could not fully believe in the Rambaldi prophecies, he never trusted them. Sydney had not either, until this moment. In this moment, she knew that this was what she was meant to do. She felt a certainty in her heart that if she did not fulfil this role, all would be lost.

Sydney's hands drifted onto Vaughn's arms, where they clasped her tightly across her breast. She gripped the folds of the black cloth that shrouded his skin from her sight and sighed softly. He was still trying to protect her, he had let her go, not once, but twice in the past two years. He was not going to lose her again. He had promised her that all the way back in LA, only then she had not known the underlying implication that lingered there. She had not known what had transpired between them during her missing time, now she knew. 

Only now he was powerless, he could not change her mind, he could not change their circumstances. All he could do was hold on to her and shield her from harm, fight for her. He was already waging an internal battle, they both were, it was only a matter of time before those battles were lost to the larger picture. There were more battles to be fought, she knew what she was fighting for but she was beginning to wonder who she was really fighting. Rambaldi, the CIA, the Covenant, Lauren, Sloane, the list ran endlessly in her mind. She was engaged with foes too numerous to keep track of. Many were faceless, others were far too familiar.

Sydney was stirred from her musings by Irina, who approached quietly and took the seat across from the two of them. Sydney's eyes shifted slightly to her mother who was watching them with cool eyes. There was mystery that stirred in those depths, Irina was a calculating woman. Sydney knew that she did nothing without a purpose. There was a larger picture in Irina's mind that Sydney could not yet see. Every time she caught a glimpse, Irina threw her off track with a warm smile, a loving touch, a kind word, a gesture to prove her love.

"What is the Rambaldi device?" Sydney asked suddenly. Irina did not seem surprised by the question, her eyes only brightened slightly at the sound of her daughter's voice and she smiled. Her smile was filled with intrigue, a secret knowledge that nobody else held.

"That is the strange part actually," Irina shook her head. Vaughn's head turned slightly, glancing from Sydney to Irina but he did not speak. He merely studied the woman before them just as Sydney had been doing.

"When you retrieved the Rambaldi artifact, it was not assembled. It was in pieces and contained a key to the assembly. When I put the pieces together, it formed the most unlikely object." Sydney frowned as she mentally ran through a list of all the bizarre Rambaldi artifacts she had uncovered while working for SD-6. What could be stranger than an artificial heart? 

"What was it?" Sydney asked cautiously, studying her mother for any sign of deception.

"It formed a doorway, only there was no door. A gateway of sorts, but what it leads to, I do not know. I do not have the power to activate it, only you can do that."

Sydney frowned, her confusion increasing as well as the sense of foreboding that hung over her. "A gateway to what?"

Irina shrugged and shook her head, "I don't know," her dark eyes sparkled with sudden anticipation. "But we'll know soon enough," her eyes darted out the window. "I believe that we're here."

Sydney turned her gaze back to the window to see the clouds clearing as they descended, coming back down to the earth. She felt the burden that had hung on her shoulders returning, only to be slowly eased away by Vaughn's touch as he rubbed her back soothingly. He seemed to know exactly what she was thinking, how she was feeling, at all times. He was always there to support her, even when she did not realize that she needed it.

Sydney met his eyes with a smile of gratitude and was transfixed by what she found there. His face was carefully composed, a mask of courage and strength, but his eyes revealed the truth. Those swirling green depths were filled with fear and the depth of love he had for her, she felt herself getting lost in them, pulled into his soul where the roots of his love lay waiting.

He squeezed her hand and she forced her eyes away, her body moving without thinking. Standing upright, one foot in front of the other until she came face to face with her destiny.

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The Rambaldi device had been assembled, and then hidden, by Irina in the city of Barcelona, where she had long ago purchased one of her safest facilities. The compound sprawled out before Sydney, Jack, and Vaughn now as they stepped off the jet into Irina's private airstrip. An immense structure, it seemed to jut out against the horizon, contrasting oddly with the warm Spanish twilight as it slowly faded to black. It would then be swallowed by the night sky, unseen by any traveler who might bypass the high fence and rough terrain.

Perched on the coast of the Mediterranean, Sydney reveled in the feeling of the breeze as it swept in off of the sea. She drew in a deep breath and laced her fingers through Vaughn's. Every moment took them closer to the final step. She could feel it in her bones, she could smell it in the sweet air. They were so close.

Vaughn paused beside her and she glanced at him questioningly, he was gazing out toward the sea, brow furrowed. She followed his gaze out to where the sun was slowly sinking into the clear waters, bathing the world around them in a soft glow. The sea was calm, almost too calm. It was like the breathless moment before a storm hit, when the wind slowed to a stop and the waves pulled back. It would only take a moment for the water to rush forward, for the rain to hit, for them to be swept away by the tide.

Sydney stepped closer to him and touched his face gently, "What is it?" Her words were soft, they had both learned long ago to trust their instinct. They would have been dead many times over if they had not.

Vaughn shook his head and scrubbed a hand over his face, smoothing away the wrinkles. "Nothing."

"Vaughn," Sydney's voice held a warning tone as her gaze swept the area once more. She did not need to say anything further to convince him.

"Something doesn't feel right," he admitted. His eyes narrowed as he studied the horizon, as if searching for something that he could not find. At length he sighed and let his eyes drop, "I'm probably just paranoid."

Sydney was not so easily convinced, her eyes remained on the horizon, oblivious to Vaughn's eyes landing on her. His breath tangled in his chest, smothering him, at the mere sight of her. The warmth of the twilight lit her skin with a soft pink glow, she seemed to radiate love. Her hair fluttering around her face in the wind as she lifted one hand to shield the sun's glare from her eyes and gaze out more intently at the horizon. He felt his love for her surge up inside of him, from the secret places where he had hidden it for far too long. It was almost instinct by now, to hide his love away, but moments like this reminded him that there was no reason.

He memorized the moment, the way her hand felt wrapped in his, the way her eyelids fluttered as she scanned the horizon, the gentle sway of her body that moved in time with the slightest of breezes. He had never loved her more.

Sydney shook her head and sighed, turning back to him. The look on his face, stopped her in her tracks. She was startled for a second, the cool mask had dropped away to reveal every emotion, it was written on his flesh. For a split second, she could only stare at him, and then she smiled. It warmed him from the inside-out, filling him with hope.

"Come on," she leaned forward and kissed him softly, attempting to assuage his fear and fill him with the hope that she was struggling to hold onto. "Let's end this damn thing once and for all." He grinned and turned away, the sunlight warming their backs as they followed Irina and Jack into the compound.

Neither of them could see the dark shape of a boat that appeared on the horizon once they turned away, sailing straight toward the compound.

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Three silent figures followed Irina through the twisting labyrinth of the compound. Irina walked the halls with an ease borne of years of experience and familiarity with the place, but the twists and turns were baffling to Sydney. However, she knew that her mother would settle for nothing less intricate. She was a woman with many secrets that she prided on keeping hidden.

At length, they came to a wide hallway filled with doors. Irina strode purposefully to the door in the center, elaborately carved mahogany that swung open on silent hinges. Sydney thought that she could recognize several Rambaldi symbols carved into the wood as she passed into the room.

What she found inside halted her in her tracks. Vaughn and Jack stepped aside wordlessly. Irina approached the structure with a sort of reverence, and stood to one side. She looked at Sydney expectantly, but Sydney could not tear her eyes away from the artifact.

The room was sparsely furnished, a large desk occupied one corner, littered with various layers of parchment and ink. A few chairs were sporadically placed on the far wall, but in the center of the room stood the Rambaldi artifact. It dwarfed everything beneath it, the huge oak desk was nothing more than a stool beside it. It stood easily twenty feet high, grazing the tall beams of the ceiling. It was no more than six feet wide however, a large archway that created a portal in the center of the room. Where the portal led, Sydney could not begin to fathom. From where she stood, before the structure, she could only see the opposite side of the room through the hollow center. There was a tingling in the back of her consciousness however, an understanding that this was indeed a gateway and that once she entered, she would never be able to return.

Carved from a deep red stone that was reminiscent of freshly spilled blood, the arch was covered with intricate carving and ancient text. At the top, where the two sides of the arch met in a point, the familiar symbol of Rambaldi was etched deep into the stone. Sydney approached it silently, circling around the arch and inspecting every inch of it. She could not recognize many of the symbols, nor could she decipher the ancient text, but the sight of this structure gave her an eerie sense of deja vu. A cold chill ran down her spine, prickling her skin, raising the hair on the back of her neck. It was almost as if she had done this before, or she had always known what this structure was. The passage to her destiny.

The symbols on the stone appeared to be moving slightly before her eyes, changing as soon as she looked away, morphing into new images just out of sight. She could feel herself coming closer to the structure, or perhaps the room was getting smaller, perhaps the artifact was moving toward her. She could not be sure, everything around her suddenly seemed to be shrouded with a thin veil of mist. She could not turn her eyes away from the Rambaldi artifact, it seemed to thrum with a quiet pulse of power. As if it were a living entity, just waiting for her to walk willingly into its open jaws. It would swallow her whole, and at this moment she did not care. 

The red stone seemed to be glowing now, red-hot heat like coals on the fire. She could practically feel the flames licking at her flesh. The world around her faded into darkness and she was alone with only her own soul and the gateway to what seemed to be the end of the world. Or perhaps it was the beginning.

She was enthralled by the pulse of the power, it hovered just beyond her touch and she reached forward. Her body seemed to respond slowly to the racing thoughts that filled her mind, as if she were moving in slow motion, walking through water to reach the oasis on the other side.

Her hand hovered above the red stone, her foot was inches away from stepping through. She could feel the power radiating through her, rattling her bones in her flesh, filling her with a white-hot heat that almost blinded her. Her fingers inched closer to the red stone, seconds away from touching the Rambaldi artifact.

It was then that the world around her exploded, angry voices shattering the dream that she had lingered in. Reality rushed in around her, screaming in her ears. She fell back away from the stone structure, blinking in a daze, her hand automatically reaching for the gun at her side.

She whirled around, gun in hand, stretching out to level instantly on the first foe that met her. Instantly she knew that everything had gone wrong, she should have trusted Vaughn's instinct. But it was too late.

She found herself staring into the cruel eyes of Lauren Reed, past the barrel of a gun. A gunshot exploded through the air, freezing the room into stillness. The only movement was the arc of the bullet, speeding faster than the space between a hearbeat. It struck flesh, dove into a body and Sydney felt blood spray onto her numb skin. Time snapped back into place and with it, came the swirl of chaos.

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	14. A Storm Breaks

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Chapter Fourteen:

A Storm Breaks

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The room was filled with silence, Vaughn could hear his own heart beating rapidly, drums in the deep shroud of quiet that had settled over all of them. Sydney was circling the gateway, eyes transfixed on red stone, ancient symbols. She appeared to have forgotten their existence, the three people who stood off to the side, watching her quietly. They were all waiting, but for what, Vaughn did not know.

The tingle of uneasiness that had started its slow crawl through his flesh out on the rocks, looking out to the sea, had not gone away. Instead, it had grown into an almost overpowering foreboding. A premonition of something about to go terribly wrong. Yet he could not bring himself to move from the spot, he could not lift his eyes from Sydney. He feared that if he looked away from her, she would vanish. All of this would be a dream. 

He was tensed, his other senses registering what his eyes could not dare seek out. Jack shifting uncomfortably beside him in small movements that were not in his nature. Jack Bristow was not a man who often felt awkward, but at this moment he did. Vaughn knew, he could feel it himself. There was something very wrong about this whole situation.

"Sydney," Vaughn was not aware that he had even spoken her name until it had left his mouth, hovering in the air before her. It never seemed to reach her, she did not respond, her eyes did not flicker from the mysterious object before her. Vaughn frowned and shook his head, taking one step toward her.

"Don't," the voice belonged to Irina. Vaughn tore his eyes from Sydney and looked at Irina, a scowl creasing his face. Irina was watching Sydney, an expression of anticipation on her face. There was a light in her eyes, those dark eyes that were so familiar to him. She did not appear worried, she seemed almost excited. It was as if she were as transfixed by the sight of her daughter as Sydney was of the Rambaldi artifact.

"Irina, I don't like this." Vaughn spoke the words through clenched teeth, one hand gesturing toward Sydney. "This doesn't feel right."

Irina's eyes snapped toward him and she scowled, "This is not about your feelings, Vaughn. This about Sydney fulfilling her destiny."

"How can we know this is her destiny?" Vaughn was almost shouting now, the uneasiness flaring into full blown panic. "She can't even hear us!" Vaughn took another step toward Sydney, stepping directly through the archway. A gasp echoed through the room as he did so and he turned back to see an expression of fear on Irina's face. He passed through the hollow space of the gateway easily, nothing happened. Her face relaxed and a puzzled expression flitted over her features, as if she had expected something else.

Vaughn paused, a cold shiver washing over him as he cleared the archway. The hair rose on the back of his neck and he approached Sydney, calling her name. She still did not respond.

"No!" Irina rushed to him and pulled him back, her fingers clutching his arm in a death grip. "You can't stop her now, Vaughn."

"Damn it, Irina! What the hell is going on? What haven't you told me?" Vaughn's voice echoed angrily throughout the large room and he spun on one heel. "Jack, would you back me up here?"

Jack was watching the three of them silently, his eyes measuring each of them. Sydney was still oblivious to the world around her, her eyes glazed, moving in slow motion. Irina's fingers dug into Vaughn's flesh, burning him with her touch, but her eyes were fixed on Sydney as well. Vaughn's gaze flickered between the three of them, a slow horror rising in him to mix with the panic that gripped his chest.

He broke away from Irina's grip and strode toward Jack, "What the hell is going on?"

"It is time," Irina's voice drifted slowly from her position beside Sydney. Vaughn spun around, she was still watching Sydney expectantly. He felt his heart drop in his chest and before he could ask what it was time for, a sound broke through the air and halted his words.

The audible click of gun being cocked back reached his ears and he froze. Panic consumed him but he did not move, he calmed his racing thoughts and attempted to clear his mind. There was no time for thought now, he had been trained well on how to react in this situation and he could not fail. He had to protect her.

Vaughn spun on his heel and found himself face to face with Lauren Reed. His breath tangled in his throat, choking him and he swallowed hard.

Lauren smiled cruelly, her eyes glaring at him from beneath what appeared to be several pounds of thick, black eyeliner. "Hello lover," she said smoothly, appearing quite smug. Vaughn's eyes hardened as he glanced from her to the door behind her, half a dozen Covenant agents, dressed from head to toe in black, were standing behind her, guns at the ready.

"This is only half of the forces I brought with me," Lauren assured him. Her eyebrows narrowed as she gazed at him and Vaughn thought vaguely how he had always hated her eyebrows. They were dark brown, her hair was blonde. It was a symbol of how fake she was, everything about her was made to appear as if she were something that she was not.

"The rest have surrounded this room, but then you would have figured that out by now, wouldn't you?" Lauren's voice hardened and she stepped closer to Vaughn. "Having been a member of the Covenant for this long, you would know that by now. I remember not too long ago when you and I were on a mission similar to this, when we were on the same side." Lauren's gloved fingers came up to stroke Vaughn's face and he flinched away from her touch. Her eyes burned into him and she gritted her teeth, glaring at him.

"We were never on the same side," Vaughn declared. He knew that it was a death sentence, proclaiming such a thing in a room filled with Covenant agents. Men and women whom he had worked with, who had trusted him as far as they could. He could not allow himself to see them as human beings, they were criminals. 

Instantly the guns lowered and aimed at Vaughn's chest and he nodded in acceptance, stepping easily in front of Sydney. He could not see her, but he could feel her presence at all times. She had still not snapped out of her daze, it was almost as if she were lost in a religious trance. If he could not reach her, he could at least protect her.

Lauren smirked, "You thought you were so safe, with your precious Sydney." She sneered as she said her name and Vaughn swallowed a wave of anger. "You should have expected betrayal."

Lauren's jaw clenched, Vaughn recognized her stance. He had seen it a hundred times, working by her side, wanting nothing more than to turn his gun on her and feel her blood on his hands. This was his last chance.

His gun slid into his hand, his muscles tensed, he was coiled and prepared to spring. Then he heard a familiar voice from behind him, the last words he expected to hear, but that he should have seen coming.

"I'm sorry," Irina said. Vaughn's head snapped up in shock, not daring to turn and meet her eyes. Instead he sought out Jack's gaze, speaking silently, in the split second of time that they had, they were ready.

"Go." Jack said.

They both launched into action at the same time, Jack jumped into the path of the Covenant agents and gripped the barrels of their guns. Shoving the butts of the guns back into the shocked faces of the Covenant agents, Jack easily avoided the stray bullets of the other agents and launched himself at them. Punching two of the agents in the face, Jack caught the gun that fell free from the hands of an agent and whirled around, shooting the other two easily.

Vaughn spun on his heel and fired at Irina. The bullet struck her shoulder and she flew back, the blood spraying onto Sydney's dazed form. Her eyes became instantly aware as she returned to herself, the first thing that she saw was the barrel of Lauren's gun hovering inches away from her face. Vaughn watched as her eyes lifted to meet Lauren's gaze. The two women stared one another down for a heated second, sparks flaring into flame between them. Vaughn could see Lauren's finger curling over the trigger and leapt over the space between them.

Vaughn tackled Lauren, slamming her down onto the floor. She twisted in his grasp and elbowed him in the face. Vaughn could feel fire race through him, blood exploding from his nose where she had impacted. He felt dizzy, but he did not let that slow him. Twisting easily to his feet, Vaughn pulled her arms behind her back and slammed her up against the side of the gateway. 

Sydney frowned and glanced around, taking in the commotion in a split second before she leapt into the action. Picking up Lauren's gun, she glanced at Vaughn who was looking at her.

"Go help Jack!" He ordered, he had his gun pressed to the curve of Lauren's neck. Sydney did not hesitate, and raced to help her father. Vaughn watched her join Jack in the fighting, each of them easily taking down the Covenant agents who came after them. But he could see more pouring in through the door.

Vaughn slammed Lauren harder against the arch and hissed into her ear, "Call them off!"

Lauren let out a low chuckle and swallowed hard, "Never."

Vaughn grit his teeth, glancing once more at Sydney and Jack. Irina was beginning to stir on the floor beside them, everything was spinning out of control. With a muttered curse, he pulled away from her and stepped back. 

Lauren twisted around, her hands falling to her sides. Her eyes softened and she smiled smugly, "I always knew that you had a soft spot for me." Vaughn shook his head, eyes narrowing and he spit at her in disgust. Raising his gun level with her head, he released all emotion and let instinct guide him.

"I've wanted to do this for a year and a half," he told her before he pressed the trigger and let the bullet rip through her soft flesh. He did not hesitate, did not turn back to see her body as it fell to the floor, instead he raced to Sydney's side.

Sydney and Jack were grappling with the Covenant agents, Jack was bleeding. Vaughn could see the blood seeping out from a bullet wound on his leg, but he still fought to protect his daughter. 

With a scream of rage, Vaughn leapt into the fray. He launched himself at the agent who was attacking Sydney, his body moving automatically. He spun around, one fist snapping back the agent's head, his leg sweeping around to knock him from his feet. Without a second thought, Vaughn fired his gun into the veiled face of the guard and turned away, catching Sydney's arm and pushing her behind him. She stood beside him, her back leaning against his as they regained their breath. 

Sydney felt as though the world had fallen down around her, the rush of adrenaline in her flesh inflamed her. Her mind whirled with the roar of the noise that washed over her, but every sense was on edge. 

She let herself go, instinct took over, it was barely even a challenge to fight off the men before her. It was all routine by now, fighting for her life. One hand out, fist clenched, the man's neck snapped without her even feeling the impact and he dropped to her feet. As he fell from her gaze, she caught sight of the red archway beyond and suddenly, everything became clear.

She stepped away from the bodies, stepped away from Vaughn, away from the fighting. It was then that she heard a guttural cry behind her, the broken moan of a man in pain. She knew that voice.

She whirled around, the room blurred around her in a faint trail of blood and sweat. Her gaze landed on her father as he stumbled back, hand clutched to his chest. Blood was welling up beneath his fingertips and he looked up to meet her gaze. She could see the fire in his eyes dying, fading rapidly.

"No!" Sydney and Vaughn's screams of anguish mingled in the space between them as each of them turned to Jack at the same time. Their rage was mingled with Irina's voice as she appeared on the edges of the fray. She launched herself into the battle, clawing through the agents as she tried to reach Jack.

Sydney was filled with a white-hot rage, she turned on the agents and sliced through them. Men fell at her feet, their dying cries smothered beneath her feet as she stepped over them. One slipped past her, his gun aiming for Vaughn who was trying to reach Jack's side.

A bullet arced through the air and Sydney's eyes widened, her hands instantly reaching out to twist the gun out of the man's hands and fire it back into his own flesh.

"Vaughn!" She called out to warn him and he paused in mid-step, twisting out of the path of the bullet to meet her gaze. 

Her voice died in her throat as Irina reached Jack, in the split second of time between the gunshot and Vaughn moving toward her. The bullet tore into Irina's back, blood blossoming on her breast and she slumped over the Jack's still body.

Suddenly there was silence. A stillness so complete that Sydney was sure that the entire world had stopped. She was staring in horror at the dead bodies before her, not those that she had killed, but those of her parents. Both of her parents, entwined in one last embrace, Irina's arms wrapped loosely around Jack's chest, her head slumped into the curve of his neck. Sydney could not move, she could not breathe. Maybe if she watched them long enough, they would come back to life and come back to her.

Vaguely reality filtered into her mind, her hands were still clenched around the thick neck of a Covenant agent whose life blood was already staining her hands. She let him go, he fell to her feet with a thud that shook her and did not move again.

Vaughn was kneeling beside the bodies of Irina and Jack, his head in his hands. It took Sydney a moment to realize that he was weeping. She had seen him cry before, but she had never seen the total breakdown of spirit that overwhelmed him at this moment.

Sydney stretched out her hand for him, but he was beyond her reach. She could not seem to move her feet, they were weighed down with the souls of the dead that littered the floor. The battle was over, every Covenant agent was dead. Easily thirty men, some may have been women, Sydney could not know and did not want to find out. They were all twisted into the last throes of death on the floor around her, their blood stained her hands, her face, pooled on the white floor that was now stained crimson. Their last breaths had escaped into the air, their souls having clawed free of the flesh and vanished into the ether.

Two of those bodies did not belong on this floor. Sydney knew that, she was certain in her heart that this was not the time for her parents to leave her. This was all very wrong. She closed her eyes and could see them hovering on the back of her eyelids. Jack's warm blue eyes, Irina's sparkling brown ones. They were trying to tell her something.

She opened her eyes and looked at her hand, still stretched out before her, reaching for Vaughn. It was shaking violently, blood drying on the pale flesh in a dark crust. She dropped her hand and glanced around, struggling to shake herself free from this dream-like state that she lingered in but she could not.

Vaughn had ceased weeping, scrubbing his face with his hands, leaving a trail of blood behind. He closed the eyes of Jack and Irina, murmuring soft words in French over their bodies. Sydney thought it sounded like a prayer, but not any prayer that she had ever heard.

She stared at him for a long moment before he looked up to meet her gaze, he was filled with despair. Sydney realized now how close he had gotten to her parents during her missing two years. As much as he had resented Irina and distrusted her, he had formed an odd bond with her. The same had gone for Jack, a man he had respected and finally come to love. Now they were both gone. 

Gone.

The man who had never been there for her, the woman who had already died once. Sydney had already mourned her mother once. She had never imagined that she would have to do it again. And Jack... A man who had been a stranger her entire life and only in the past few years had he truly become her father. She had loved him more than anyone else in her life, save for Vaughn. In the past few months, he had been all she had. Now he was gone. They were both gone.

Sydney felt the deep anguish rise up within her as she stared at Vaughn. The sorrow in his eyes, the pain on his face, made it all real. The pain that wrenched her heart open battled with another sensation, the ever present feeling that none of this was real. This couldn't be real. 

Vaughn stood up from his position amidst the dead and wiped the blood from his hands on his pants. Silently, he stepped over the bodies between them and reached out for Sydney. She fell into his arms willingly, the tears welling up in her eyes spilling over only as she buried her head into the curve of his neck.

"They're gone, Vaughn." Sydney shook her head and he felt her body shaking like a leaf in the wind. Pressing her tightly to his body, Vaughn struggled to calm her growing hysteria. "They can't be gone!" She pulled back, her eyes wild as she gazed at him. "This isn't right! I can change this! My mother told me that I could change this!" 

Vaughn's face crumpled in grief and he shook his head, and pulled her to him once more. "No, Syd... You can't. Not this time." His words cut him as deeply as they wounded her, slicing deep beneath the layers of emotion and striking into the core of her heart. 

Sydney sobbed against his chest as Vaughn stroked her back in a soothing motion. He felt his own tears staining his face, mingling with the blood and sweat that formed a mask of pain. Suddenly she stopped, her muffled cries ceasing instantly. Her body stilled and she went stiff in his arms.

Vaughn narrowed his eyes and pulled back slightly to look at her, "What is it?"

Sydney looked up at him and Vaughn was startled by the clarity that he found waiting for him there. The set of her jaw was fiercely determined, her body shifting from her slumped posture to a poise of confidence. He could see the wheels turning in her brain and was almost afraid to hear her answer.

"Yes, I can." She whispered as she pulled out of his arms. Vaughn frowned, the fear that had been flooded with grief rose back up in him sharply.

Sydney bent down and touched her parents reverently. She pressed her right hand over the bleeding wound on Jack's chest and swallowed the hysterical sob that threatened to rise inside of her. She placed her left hand on Irina's back, where the blood had swelled up and seeped through the thin fabric of her shirt. 

Standing, she turned away from the bodies of her parents and stepped back to Vaughn's side. She gazed up at him and gently touched his forehead, where a cut was bleeding openly. Taking his blood, she mingled it with what was already on her hands and gazed at him sadly.

"Death is the only thing that can forsake all bonds of love, Vaughn." Sydney whispered sadly and Vaughn frowned, confused by her words.

"Sydney, what are you doing?" He could hear the high pitch of panic in his voice as she just shook her head and stepped away from him. Her eyes turned to the gateway and she strode toward it purposefully. Hands outstretched, she lifted her arms above her head and began to speak. 

Vaughn saw what she was doing in an instant flash of clarity and he raced to catch up with her. She was speaking words unfamiliar to his well trained ear, they sounded ancient, resonating in his head with a painful thunder. 

"Sydney, no!" He gripped her arm and at that moment, they passed beneath the archway.

A blinding flash of light swept through them, expanding from the gateway and racing through the large room. A silent thunder expanded, energy pushing out and expanding around them until the walls shook with the pressure.

They stepped through the gateway, but they did not come out the other side. The room was empty of all life, all that was left was a pile of dead bodies and a red gateway that slowly faded to black. The ancient symbols began to fade and slowly the gateway began to crumble into ash.

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	15. Beneath A Broken Sky

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Chapter Fifteen:

Beneath a Broken Sky

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There was a white light.

Vaughn could feel himself floating, bathed in a pure light that wrapped his senses in a drowsy calm. The blood that stained his skin melted away. The lines of sorrow that creased his face, the pain etched upon his heart, the scars on his skin all faded beneath the clear light that enfolded him. He was drifting, unable to open his eyes and see what lay before him.

Slowly, he returned to himself. The white light crawled away from him to become a dull glow that seeped in through closed eyes. The world flickered on the edges of his inner vision, and he felt himself rushing back through a thousand memories. He struggled to hold onto Sydney but faintly he realized that he was gripping something much harder than her flesh. It was solid, felt like plastic.

The light began to burn him, dazzling his senses and he opened his eyes with a start. Breath rushed back into his lungs and he found himself sitting in a chair, clutching the armrests tightly. The room swam slowly into focus and when his eyes cleared, he found himself staring at the last person he had ever expected to see again. Jack Bristow sat across from him at the round table, frowning as he gazed at Vaughn. A slow buzz of voices rose to take shape in Vaughn's ears and he blinked in confusion, glancing around the room.

He was sitting in the debrief room at the CIA headquarters, Sydney's seat beside him was empty. There was no blood staining his skin, he was dressed in a rumpled suit, tie loosened. His eyes widened in bewilderment and he glanced around the room. To his shock, he found Kendall standing at the head of the table, speaking to the group. Dixon was seated beside Jack across from Vaughn, Marshall was at one end of the table and beside him was Carrie. A very slim Carrie, obviously not pregnant at all. No one was paying any attention to Vaughn. Weiss was seated on his other side, sneaking furtive glances over at Vaughn.

"You okay, Mike?" Weiss's hushed whisper filtered into his ear as his friend leaned close to him and frowned as he took in Vaughn's pale face and shocked expression.

Vaughn stared at him, his eyes wide and he shook his head. "What the hell is going on?" He muttered. Turning to look back up at Kendall, he struggled to focus on what the man was saying. 

"Both Sloane and Irina Derevko managed to escape our grasp at the last second, along with the Rambaldi device. We still do not know precisely what 'Il Dire' is but we have agents interrogating Mr. Sark for information as we speak."

Vaughn gasped softly in shock, staring at Kendall with wide eyes. Slowly he glanced around the room once more, pinching himself through his jacket to ensure that he was not dreaming. He glanced down at his watch and the date he found there confirmed his suspicions.

The date was May 4, 2003, two years earlier, the day that Sydney had died. Vaughn swallowed hard and tried to calm his racing thoughts and process this onslaught of information. He struggled to remember what Irina had said about the Rambaldi artifact, the gateway. The sight of the red stone, glowing symbols, was the last thing Vaughn remembered.

Irina's words came back to him, echoing in his mind with an eerie clarity as if she were right beside him, whispering in his ear. "This device would enable you to effectively destroy the Covenant, and it is possible that it will give you a chance to get your life back."

Vaughn frowned and shook himself, rubbing his eyes and struggling to put the pieces together. Then he heard Sydney's voice in his mind, one of the last things she had said to him. "I can change this! My mother told me that I could change this!"

Her tear-stained face, streaked with blood and so filled with determination filled his mind. Her hands, stained with her parent's blood, with his blood. Vaughn stared dully at his watch, waiting for the pieces to fall into place.

His eyes came to focus on the time suddenly, the glowing numbers that peered up at him from the shadows. They read eight thirty at night... His head snapped up and he swallowed hard. Sydney had been pronounced dead at nine thirty, he had arrived at her apartment and collapsed among the ashes around ten p.m.

Bolting upright out of his chair, Vaughn was on his feet before his brain could being to catch up with this information. Everything became clear in one split second as he felt his feet hit the floor. The room fell into silence and he could feel the wondering eyes of his colleagues following his back as he turned and sped out of the room.

"Agent Vaughn!" He heard Jack's voice call to him, filled with suppressed anger and suspicion as Vaughn raced through the CIA Operations Center. The sound of Jack's voice almost caused Vaughn to screech to a stop, the familiar voice that had come to mean so much to him over the past two years. Two years that were gone now, that had never happened except in Vaughn's memory. Recalling this fact, and the memory of what those two years had done to both him and Jack kept Vaughn's feet moving. 

The agents in the office stared at him curiously as he raced across the room, but he paid them no heed. His thoughts were filled with only one thought, Sydney. He had to reach Sydney before it was too late.

Michael Vaughn was racing against time, to save the woman he loved from their own future. He had been given this one chance to prevent the disaster, to prevent their pain and suffering, to prevent Jack and Irina's deaths and the deaths of countless innocents at the hands of the Covenant. He had this chance to finally do what he had wished he had done countless times since she was gone, and get to her before the Covenant could.

So he ran, and prayed that he was right.

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There was darkness.

For Sydney, there was no white light. There was no pure oblivion that washed her bruised and broken body with a healing energy. There was only a deep and dark blackness that she drifted in, cut loose from all that she knew. She felt Vaughn's hand slip from her own, his fingers suddenly escaping her grasp. Then his presence left her and she was alone in her own private oblivion.

She was sinking deeper and deeper, unsure whether or not she was sinking into herself or into a physical cavern of emptiness. Her fingers clawed at empty space, her voice echoed around her, speaking nothing in the shadows. Vaughn was gone, she had lost him in the last moment by her own volition. Her parents were dead, cut down by her enemies. She was alone.

So she gave up fighting, finally allowed herself to be cut free from the guilt, the pain, the overwhelming grief. She let go. Let herself drift deeper into the darkness, an unending tunnel through which she drifted slowly down. 

That was when she saw the light.

It was not a white light, it was a faint glow of color that glimmered through closed eyelids. The vacuum seemed to pull her faster, as she descended ever closer to the light at the end of the tunnel. 

With an abrupt shock, she fell back into herself. She could feel her aching body once more, could feel the blood that stained her flesh. She could feel the wounds that tore through her body, crimson seeping freely from the abrasions. Her eyelids were heavy, gritty as if coated with sleep. She struggled to open them and bring the world into focus.

What she was before her was the last thing she expected to see. She was slumped against the wall in her apartment... her old apartment, the one that had been burned to the ground two years earlier. 

Blinking slowly, Sydney was sure that she was dreaming. The room spun as she struggled to move, her aching head causing her vision to blur. The glow that had filtered into her consciousness was the lamp on the table, one of the few things that had not been smashed in her fight with Allison.

Allison. Sydney's eyes cleared and with a start, she saw the body lying a few feet away from her. The familiar face of her best friend was twisted in death's grimace. Her best friend was dead, as was this stranger who had taken her place. The blood was pouring freely from where Sydney had shot her, three times. She seemed to be clearly dead. 

Sydney shuddered and shook her head, this wasn't possible. Her head felt fuzzy though, thick and filled with confusion. Struggling to stand, Sydney put her hands on the ground beside her for leverage and slipped on the broken glass. Sharp slivers sliced into her flesh but she barely felt it, it as nothing compared to the pain that the rest of her body was enduring.

Gritting her teeth, Sydney dug her hands into the broken glass that surrounded her and pushed herself up. With a gasp, she felt pain shoot through her, she could not identify the source but knew that it could be from anything. She had taken quite a beating in her fight with Allison, she had relived this fight in her mind a thousand times. It had been her last memory when she woke up in Hong Kong. Ironically, at this moment her last memory was of an event two years in the future. In Hong Kong, her last memory had been of this moment, two years in the past. Life played cruel little tricks on her.

Sydney leaned against the wall for support as she struggled to gain some sense of clarity, but none came to her. Her breathing was labored, pain shot through her with every small movement. She gazed around the destruction of the apartment with dazed eyes, taking into account everything before her. Shattered glass from the broken door, the table was overturned, legs broken. Dishes were strewn about the floor, cracked and broken. The scene before her mimicked her own broken and bruised flesh. Her life was spread out before her, bleeding to death.

Her eyes landed on the phone, it was only a few feet away. If she could reach it, she could call someone. She couldn't call her father, he was dead now. Sydney shook her head in confusion. No, he was alive. If this was the past, Jack was at the debrief with Vaughn...

Vaughn. Sydney's heart nearly stopped in her chest, her breath catching at the thought of him. Her last memory of him was amidst the destruction in her mother's compound in Spain. He had been covered with blood, consumed by grief. He had tried to stop her... but what had she done?

Sydney tried to move forward, stumbling over scattered debris and faltering from the waves of agony that consumed her. Crying aloud, she bit her lip and silently chastised herself. She had withstood worse than this and fought her way out. All she had to do was reach the phone, call for help. But it seemed further and further away.

Pushing herself forward, Sydney landed on the couch and her hand grasped wildly for the phone. She breathed a sigh of relief as she heard a dial tone in her ear and she began to punch in the familiar numbers for Vaughn's cell phone.

That's when the black gloved hand struck her hard from behind and she slumped forward, over the broken table and shattered glass. The Covenant agent calmly removed the phone from her grip and switched it off.

"Get her up," the agent ordered, eyeing the wounded woman with disdain. The other agent nodded and began to pick up Sydney when a sudden noise caused him to jump in surprise. Clutching Sydney tighter in his arms, the agent turned to investigate.

Vaughn was standing in the doorway, gun trained on the agent's head. He had kicked in the door, finding it locked and found that he had arrived just in time. His eyes were like steel, cutting deep into the heart of the agent and stirring a fear that he had never known before.

"Put. Her. Down." Vaughn ordered, his words containing an icy chill of command that made the agent shiver in fear. Vaughn's jaw clenched and he took a step into the room, toward the agent. He did not dare look down at Sydney for fear that if he did, he would lose all composure. He had to be strong, he had to get her out of here.

A soft click resounded in his ear and he froze, feeling the cold metal of a gun barrel pressed up against the back of his neck. Swallowing hard, Vaughn's eyes flickered around the room, there were only two agents. He could handle this. He steadied himself, preparing to spring when the agent standing behind him began to speak.

"Agent Vaughn, I presume." The voice halted Vaughn's train of thought instantly and he suppressed a gasp. The cultured British accent had become all too familiar to him in the worst way, he had thought he had rid himself of it but obviously if Jack was still alive, then Lauren was still alive.

She shook her head and laughed softly, lifting her gun away from his skin, preparing to slam the butt into the back of his head. Vaughn whirled around faster than she could move, one hand coming up to grip her throat. His other hand grasped the gun in her hand and wrenched it free. He slammed Lauren hard back against the wall, her head collided with a sickening thud. He pivoted on one foot and flipped the gun around in his hand, aiming it at the agent who held Sydney. 

The agent fired at him and quickly he pulled Lauren in front of him, using her as a human shield. The bullet slammed into her shoulder and tore through the flesh but did not reach Vaughn. He felt the warmth of her blood seeping through the fabric and spreading out across his chest. Vaughn did not hesitate as he pulled the trigger and shot the other agent in the temple. The agent let out a strangled groan and fell back, one side of his head landing a good two feet behind him. His blood mingled with the blood that was already sprayed all over the apartment, Allison's blood... Sydney's blood. Sydney went down with him as he fell, still unconscious. He would do her no harm now that he was dead.

Gritting his teeth, Vaughn turned Lauren around and slammed her hard against the wall. Ripping off her mask, he exposed a mass of blonde hair and cruel features that he recognized all too well. 

"Why couldn't you just stay dead?" Vaughn demanded, hissing at her in disgust. Lauren frowned, clearly confused as to what he was talking about. Vaughn just shook his head and brought the gun up to slam into the back of her head. She slumped over, unconscious at his feet. He wished he could have killed her a second time, but he had the feeling that they would need the information that she contained. It would be through Lauren that they could destroy the Covenant before they even came to power, Vaughn was sure of it.

Dropping the gun, Vaughn turned away from Lauren and dropped to his knees amidst the shattered glass and broken debris. He knelt before Sydney, where she had been tossed on the floor like a rag doll, and gathered her into his arms. He pressed his ear to her chest, hearing her heart beating steadily beneath her breast. Her breathing was shallow however and her skin was pale beneath the layers of blood caked on it. He had to get her to a hospital, and fast. 

Pulling her close to him, he gathered her up in his arms and nestled her against his chest. She was a fairly tall woman, but in his arms she seemed no bigger than a child. An innocent child who did not deserve the abuse that she had received.

Studying her carefully, Vaughn could see the blood streaking her flesh. A small trail dripped from her mouth, down her chin and he swallowed hard at the sight. He smoothed away the blood with his sleeve, leaving a red stain behind on her flesh. There was an ugly bruise forming on her temple and he worried that she might have a concussion.

Vaughn grit his teeth and held her close, rocking her gently in his arms. Despite everything she had endured tonight and how close he had come to losing her, he felt a profound relief wash over him. He had made it to her just in time, the Covenant would not have her. They would not have him. He had changed their future.

Stroking her hair softly, he allowed himself this moment to revel in the feeling of being alive. Though he stood amidst dead bodies and massive destruction, he could not wish to be anywhere else at that moment. He kissed her head softly and whispered in her hair, "I didn't fail you this time, Syd... You did it, you brought us back and we changed everything. It will be okay now, it will be okay."

And for the first time, he believed his own words.

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	16. Wonder

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Chapter Sixteen:

Wonder

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When she woke again, the darkness had passed.

Her eyes blinked open slowly, two dark pools that were blinded by a white light. The world around her was vague and unclear and she waited for her eyes to focus. The pain still lingered in her flesh but it had been dulled, her mind was foggy with painkillers but clearer than it had been before. She looked down at herself, focusing on the small details of the fabric that covered her. She was swaddled in white linen, wrapped up in pure light that seemed to come from every direction. It reflected off stark walls that gleamed in the brightness, bounced off of her pale flesh and seeped into every pore. 

Her eyes cleared and the room came into focus, the bare walls and faint hum of machinery. She was lying in a hospital bed, her gaze drifted slowly around the room as she struggled to comprehend it all. That was when she saw him.

He was in a chair beside her that had been pulled as close as possible to the edge of the bed. He was slumped over, his head resting on the edge, the muscles in his back tense. One arm was stretched out, fingers splayed across her stomach. He was holding onto her.

Her eyes filled suddenly with tears as she gazed down at him. He was sleeping lightly beside her, his fingers unconsciously gripping the sheets. His hair was mussed, his shirt rumpled. She could see his tie had been flung across the back of the chair and his jacket had been thrown haphazardly into a ball beside him. She wondered how long he had been here, waiting for her to open her eyes. Praying that she would survive.

She pulled her hand up, it felt heavy in her drowsy state. She reached out for him and ran her fingers gently through his hair. He came awake instantly, his head snapping up off the edge of the bed and eyes seeking her out.

There was a wild panic in his eyes that was familiar to her, but it faded the instant he saw her. A sigh of relief rushed free from his lungs, she knew that it had been held inside all this time. Breath held in anticipation, in fear. 

"Syd," her name was a broken prayer that spilled from his lips as he reached up to grip her hand. He moved closer to her and wrapped one arm tightly around her stomach, hugging her to him gently. Lacing his fingers through hers, he brought her palm to his lips and kissed it softly. She smiled faintly at his tender actions and an amazed grin flickered across his lips.

She gestured at him to move closer to her and he obliged immediately. Easing his long body onto the bed beside her, he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close, careful not to pull free any wires or harm her in any way. He laid his head beside her, nuzzling the curve of her neck, planting soft kisses on the skin there.

Sydney folded herself into him, seeking solace in the warmth of him and he gave freely. She gripped his hand tighter and turned slightly so she was facing him, their noses brushing softly in an eskimo kiss. He sighed softly, the breath whispering across her flesh, eyelids fluttering. She leaned her forehead against his and kissed him softly, grateful for his presence. 

"Vaughn," her voice was raspy as it spilled from her cracked lips. "What the hell happened?" 

The disbelief in her voice, the knowledge of all that they had endured together only to come to this moment washed over Vaughn. He couldn't help but laugh. The relief that filled him so profound, the rising joy was so overwhelming that he was not sure how to respond to her question.

"Baby, I wish I could answer that question but I don't know where to begin," his brow creased in thought and he studied her quiet eyes. "What do you remember?"

Sydney shook her head slightly and bit her lip, "I remember watching my parents die... I remember the way you wept over their still forms and all I could do was stand there in shock. I remember going through that gateway, and feeling you grab me at the last moment and you went in with me," She frowned and swallowed hard, eyes flickering up to meet his. "And then I woke up in my apartment, as if none of it had ever happened. Like it had all been a dream."

Vaughn shut his eyes momentarily, the memories she spoke of appearing suddenly behind closed lids. It could have been a dream, but it was too real, and he remembered it all too.

"It wasn't a dream," he whispered. Opening his eyes, he brushed his lips across her forehead and shook his head. "I remember it all. I think that somehow going through that gateway brought us back to that night when everything changed. But our memories of that time, the knowledge that it really happened, that we lived through it still remain."

Sydney's brow furrowed as she frowned, "I don't understand."

"Me neither, but I don't care. All that matters is that we were given a second chance, Syd. When I went through that gateway with you, I felt myself falling. I thought that I had lost you, I thought that I was dying." He studied her carefully and then smiled, "And when I came back to myself, I opened my eyes and you know what the first thing I saw was?"

Sydney shook her head, "What?"

Vaughn's smile grew and he chuckled softly, still in awe of everything. "I saw Jack sitting across the table from me in the Ops Center, glaring at me for not paying attention."

Sydney's eyes widened in shock and she stared at him. Vaughn's smile grew even wider at the expression on her face and she could not help but return his grin. A deep laugh rose from within her and she shook her head, burying her face into his chest and giggling softly.

"He's alive!" Sydney smiled, relief washing over her and cleansing her of any lingering pain. Vaughn nodded his assent.

"And Kendall was debriefing us on how Irina got away, they're both alive. I came back to that moment in the debrief and when I looked at my watch, I knew why I had come back to that moment in time. So you know what I did?"

Sydney could only imagine his reaction to that realization, she giggled softly as she imagined what his face must have looked like. "What?"

All mirth fell away now and Vaughn became serious as Sydney looked up at him. He cupped her face in the palm of his hand and she could see a faint glimmer of tears in his eyes. 

"I shot out of my chair and ran full-speed out of the Ops Center, Jack and Kendall shouting at me the whole way. But I didn't stop, not until I reached you. I was sent back to stop the Covenant from taking you, I took one of their key players into custody. Jack is interrogating Lauren as we speak. She will give us the information we need to take down the Covenant before it comes to power." His eyes shone as he gazed at her, "You did it, Syd. You brought us back to change the course of the future. A future free of the Covenant and what they would do to us, how they would have destroyed both of us."

Sydney felt tears welling up in her eyes and she swallowed the lump in her throat as she gazed at the man before her. "I didn't do it, Vaughn. You did, you saved me," she said quietly. "You saved me again."

A shadow passed over Vaughn's voice and he kissed her softly, "Syd...When I walked into your apartment, I saw you lying there... I thought 'Oh God, just give me one last chance to tel her how much I love her.' I was afraid that I was too late, that I would still lose you."

Sydney felt the tears spill over and she kissed him gently, "You're never going to lose me again." She wiped away the tears that had spilled over from his eyes and smiled softly, "I wouldn't lose you twice," she whispered, echoing his own words that he had spoken to her twice in another life, and would now never have to. He smiled, recognizing his voice in her words and kissed her.

"I love you," she whispered. "We're going to be okay. It's finally going to be okay." She nestled her head against his and wrapped her arms around him as best she could. They lay entwined, on the hospital bed. Wrapped in wires and white linen, they were newborn into their former lives. All the pain would fade like the scars that had faded in the light as they made the transition between past and future. They were back at the beginning, but in their souls they had matured two years, lived two years and loved one another intensely the entire time. They no longer had any barriers between them, they were free to be together again. 

Their moment was suspended by a soft noise from the doorway. They both turned their heads to see a familiar face looking in at them.

"Daddy!" Sydney sat up, Vaughn's arm snaking around her back and easing her up to greet her father. Jack stepped into the room, his eyes flickering between Vaughn and Sydney curiously.

"Sydney," Jack smiled and approached the foot of the bed. His posture was stiff but there was a softness in his eyes that both Sydney and Vaughn had become familiar with. It was a look of paternal love that he had always reserved for his daughter. It was a look that Vaughn had once had the exceeding fortune of receiving as well, but he feared that it would not come his way anymore now that things had changed.

"How are you feeling, sweetheart?" Jack's face was filled with concern as he circled around the side of the bed opposite Vaughn and sat down in the chair beside the bed. Sydney smiled happily and leaned over to give her father a warm hug. 

"I'm wonderful now, better than I have been in a long time." Sydney pulled back and looked Jack in the eyes. He was somewhat surprised by what he saw there. A depth of understanding and wisdom infused her gaze that had not been there the last time he had seen her, only hours earlier. Something had changed since then, and he could not quite place what it was. 

"I thought that I had lost you," Sydney whispered mournfully, tears filling her eyes. Jack frowned in concern and shook his head, gently wiping away a tear that slipped down her cheek. 

"I'm right here, sweetheart. You haven't lost me." He assured her, he was slightly puzzled by her words. After all, she was the one who had almost died tonight, he had almost lost her. However, she seemed to be incredibly relieved by the sight of him and she wrapped her arms around him once more.

"I love you, Daddy," Sydney whispered, her words muffled by the fabric of his shirt where she had buried her face. Her words were spoken in a small voice, as if she were a child again. Jack felt a lump rise up in his throat as a wave of love for his daughter consumed him. He had come so close to losing her. 

"I love you too, Sweetheart." He let his eyes slip closed and he breathed in deeply, reveling in the fact that she was still alive. 

When his eyes opened once more, he found himself face to face with Michael Vaughn. Sydney was still hugging him tightly, and over her shoulder he could see Vaughn watching the two of them carefully. Vaughn's eyes flickered from Sydney, a soft smile playing over his lips and he met Jack's gaze. The smile faltered slightly, but his gaze did not waver. Jack was surprised by what he saw in Vaughn's eyes. They seemed to hold the same inner wisdom and understanding, the same newfound maturity that Sydney possessed. It was as if the two of them had aged several years in one night.

What shocked Jack the most however, was the affection in Vaughn's eyes as he looked at Jack. Jack had seen what Vaughn had done to the other Covenant agent who had come for Sydney, the way he had killed him without a second thought. That, and the knowledge that this man had saved his daughter's life tonight had brought Jack's respect for him up a few notches. However, as he looked at the younger man now, he felt affection for him for the first time. It was an odd feeling. Sydney pulled away from Jack and turned back to Vaughn, glancing between the two of them cautiously. 

Jack cleared his throat and nodded at Vaughn, "Agent Vaughn. I should reprimand you for running out of a meeting the way you did. For ignoring my orders to return." His eyes flickered over the length of the bed and the empty chair that Vaughn had vacated. "And for taking up my daughter's bed space." Sydney scoffed softly but a soft touch from Vaughn on her hand quieted her protest. He was listening to Jack with a quiet intensity that surprised the older man.

"But I won't do that," Jack's voice softened. Vaughn smiled as he watched Jack's eyes soften, maybe this would be better than he thought. "I don't know how you knew that Sydney needed your help, but I thank God that you didn't listen to me and come back to the meeting. Thank you," Jack reached out to grip Vaughn's free hand in an uncharacteristic display of emotion on his part. "Thank you for saving my daughter's life, Michael," he whispered, his voice thick with emotion. 

Vaughn shook his head and squeezed Jack's hand, "You don't have to thank me, Jack. It was what I was meant to do," He glanced at Sydney meaningfully and then turned back to Jack with a smile. "And nothing you wouldn't have done yourself, had you known..." Vaughn bit his lip then and swallowed the rest of his sentence. 

"How did you know?" Jack asked, his curiosity getting the better of him. Vaughn glanced away and looked at Sydney. The two of them shared a long look, filled with hidden meaning and silent words that Jack could not begin to understand.

At length, Vaughn shook his head, "I just knew. A gut instinct told me to get to Sydney, something left over from years of being her handler, I suppose." He chuckled softly then, "I always seem to know when she's in danger."

Jack studied the two of them carefully, the way they held onto one another and spoke without words. There was something deeper to all of this, something hidden beneath the surface. He was not sure that he could understand it, but it didn't matter. All that mattered was that his daughter was alive, she was safe.

Sydney broke in then as she looked at Jack, "Has Lauren given you any information yet?"

Jack frowned, "How did you know who she was?"

Sydney's eyes widened and she glanced quickly at Vaughn, "Vaughn told me."

"How did-"

Vaughn interjected easily, "I recognized her when I took off her mask. We met last year at a conference. She is Senator Reed's daughter, look it up. She actually works for the NSC," he scoffed. "Its disgusting, they infiltrated the highest levels of our government."

Jack frowned, all of his information was completely correct but he had only discovered it for himself an hour earlier. "Yes, she has been giving us plenty of information. Most of it was false at first, but once I talked to her, she sang like a bird. Started naming people, places, cells. We're still verifying all of the information but it looks like the Covenant will be destroyed within a matter of hours." Jack's eyes gleamed and Vaughn smiled, fully aware of what Jack's idea of 'talking' to a dirty agent was. Yes, Lauren Reed would be getting exactly what she deserved at the hands of Jack Bristow. 

"That's good," Sydney murmured, almost to herself. Vaughn glanced at her and swallowed hard, before looking back to meet Jack's eyes. His expression hardened suddenly.

"Make sure that she gets what she deserves, Jack," the tone of his voice made it clear precisely what he meant. Jack raised an eyebrow, surprised by this sudden ruthlessness in Vaughn.

"Of course, I will." Jack assured them. "I am actually due back there soon, I just wanted to come by and see how you were doing." He stood up and kissed Sydney gently on the forehead. She smiled and kissed him on the cheek.

"I'm doing fine, Dad. Don't worry, I have Vaughn here to protect me," she grinned in Vaughn's direction and he groaned melodramatically. 

"I don't know if I can handle that kind of responsibility, Syd," he joked. "We're going to have to get you back to full health soon so you can protect me." 

Sydney laughed, a deep throated and joyful sound that was like music to the ears of both Jack and Vaughn. They each grinned simultaneously and looked at one another, the room was suddenly filled with warm and life. Sydney continued laughing and Jack shook his head as he left the room, still marveling at the strange transformation of both Sydney and Vaughn.

As he walked away from the room, he could hear Vaughn's deeper laughter join Sydney's melodious giggle. Jack paused outside of the room and allowed himself to smile, relief coursed through his veins and a strange, giddy joy. Life had returned to all of them.

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	17. Threads of an Old Life

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Chapter Seventeen:

Threads of An Old Life

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In this place, heaven was made of bare white walls. People came here to live and die at a moment's notice. An individual could see their dreams reflected in the faces of others. Others who had come close to dying and realized how truly alive or dead they truly were. Those who survived lived better lives and others did not make it. The weak were devoured by the strong in this world. 

Sydney Bristow was not weak.

She was studying her reflection in the windowpane, the outline curving slowly across the glass. She could only see a wavering image of herself against the sunlight, which filled her vision beyond. She was outlined in golden shadows, hair dark and shorter than she recalled. She could see that some of the scars were gone, skin unblemished where once a mark had lingered. Her face was not as pale as before, her eyes not as haunted. Instead, they now held a gleam of knowledge that they had never contained before. A wisdom this deep could only be inspired by a dramatic revolution of the soul, something that had been stirred deep within. The power of the Rambaldi artifact had changed her, the knowledge of the time that was now gone and what she had gone through stayed with her. Those experiences had aged her soul, the Rambaldi artifact had changed it. She could not explain it, only that she could see herself in everything around her now. The sway of the wind in the trees whispered its secrets to her, the bark was like her skin. Tough and unyielding, a soft core hiding within. She felt more connected to everything around her, namely the one other person who had undergone this experience with her.

She saw him approach from behind her in the reflection, rising up from the sunlight and reaching out to wrap his arms around her waist. She smiled as his chin came to rest on her shoulder. She leaned back against the solid strength of his chest and tilted her head back to allow him to drop a kiss onto waiting lips.

"I missed you," he smiled, a sort of wild joy was in his face as he looked at her and she chuckled. 

"You've only been gone two hours," she smirked at him and shook her head, "I suppose Kendall wants me to report to him as soon as possible," she frowned. "When does he want me in?"

Vaughn shook his head, "You're not going into the office today, or tomorrow or any other day for the rest of the month unless you want to."

The expression of shock on Sydney's face made Vaughn laugh and she shook her head at him. "How on earth did you manage that one?'

Vaughn shrugged innocently, "I had your Jack's help."

Sydney groaned and smiled ruefully, "Dare I ask what my father threatened Kendall with if he didn't let me have sick leave?"

Vaughn grinned, "I don't think we should ever ask how with your father again, just accept it as long as its remotely legal." Sydney couldn't help but giggle softly at this, the joy that she felt at having her father back was astounding. The first few days after their return, she saw the image of her parent's dead bodies imprinted on the back of her eyelids. Only now did it fade, only when Vaughn was here. It was fading more and more everyday, but the memory remained. 

Still, uncertainty lingered in the back of her mind. Several untold fears lingered beneath her joy, only after she had taken care of them could she move on. Vaughn knew it, he could sense it in the troubled clouds that drifted over her eyes. She knew that he could see it in her, but it did not bother her. He was as much a part of this as she was.

"Vaughn," the way his name spilled from her lips caught his attention. He frowned and turned her to face him, the worry had returned to her eyes. He smoothed a hand across her brow, fingers trailing gently through loose strands of hair and her eyelids fluttered beneath the touch. Her gaze darted away from him.

"I've stopped asking myself exactly what happened when we went through that gateway," she shivered slightly at the memory and his hands instinctively moved down to her arms, warming her, though the chill resided deep beneath her flesh. 

"But I have this fear of what could happen if anyone unearthed that gateway, if they learned how to activate in another way... the results could be disastrous." Sydney shook her head and felt Vaughn's grip on her arms tighten ever so slightly, as if he was trying to hold onto her. She looked up to meet his gaze and saw the same veiled fear there that she felt. He nodded slowly, hearing the words that she did not speak.

"I have to finish this." Sydney whispered. Vaughn studied her carefully, the sunlight creeping in through the window illuminating her from behind. She seemed so small in this moment, but she was much stronger than either of them could ever have imagined. He knew that now, but he also knew her weaknesses.

"No, Sydney," Vaughn closed his eyes and breathed in the moment. His hands trailed down to clasp her hands. "We will finish this."

When he opened his eyes, he found that her smile was brighter than the sun. The shadows yielded beneath her light. Hand in hand, they turned and left the empty hospital room behind.

__

The air was thick and wet, the steam that drifted up from the floor to circle his head in lazy clouds was heavy on his skin. Tonight, the world seemed to weigh heavier than ever on his aged shoulders. Clasping his hands before him, he bowed his head and allowed his thoughts to take him far away. His memory was long, it could take him to a time of happiness and love in his life. A time that was long since past.

Absently, his thumb traced over the symbol that was etched deep into the flesh between his thumb and his forefinger. Three small shapes, two small points and a circle. That was all it took to change his life forever, to rip his son from his grasp, to give his wife reason to leave him.

Since that day, he had dedicated his life to the search for the truth. A search that had become an obsession over the long years, but it had never left him satisfied.

He stared dully into the fog, aware of the marks that the passage of time had left on his physical form, his soul, his aged mind. The wrinkles on the backs of his hands softened beneath the moist warmth, the thinning white hair was flattened against his scalp. In his soul, was where he bore the weight of time heaviest. His heart was falling into a dark void, he knew that he did not have much time left on this earth. He only wished that he could pass on the legacy that he had uncovered over the years. The legacy of Rambaldi. 

As he gazed morosely into the clouds of steam that filled the room, he saw shapes begin to form. Images arose in the swirling depths, memories of a time long past. And a face, familiar to him from the Rambaldi prophecies. The face of the woman.

It was only when she spoke, that he realized that she was real. She had slipped in through the side door and was standing before him. Her hands were folded behind her as she watched him with knowing eyes. 

"Mr. Lazarey," she addressed comfortably, her voice smooth as it slid softly through the steam to meet his ears.

He frowned and clutched his towel tighter around his waist, "Who are you?" The question was voiced aloud, even as he realized that he knew the answer to his own question. She was the woman he had wondered about for the past twenty years. She was the woman of the prophecy, the key to every Rambaldi mystery. The spider on the web of intrigue that Rambaldi had spun long ago.

"My name is Sydney Bristow," she had decided to speak the truth. The Lazarey that she remembered had been a good man, willing to work with her. She knew that she held the only bargaining chip that he would accept, though she was unsure how fair of a bargain this might be.

"You are... the woman in the prophecy," Lazarey stood slowly, gazing at her with wide eyes. He had heard rumors of the woman surfacing in America, working for the U.S. Government. He had never known whether or not to believe the rumors until now. She stood before him in the flesh, and deep down he felt a weight lift from his heart. She would free him of his burdens.

Sydney grimaced and nodded her assent to his statement, "Yes I am." She took a step toward him and for the first time, Lazarey could sense the power that was held in the core of this woman. It was coiled in the deepest part of her soul, ready to be unleashed on any who invoked her wrath.

Lazarey had the feeling that he never wanted to be on Sydney Bristow's bad side.

"What do you want from me?" There was an uneasiness rising in him now, Sydney could practically taste it. She could recognize his jerky movements as a sign of anxiety that she had grown to recognize. All she could do was issue a silent apology to this man who had been her unlikely partner in another life.

"I need the keys," the words slipped so easily from her mouth and Lazarey smiled, as if he had expected this.

"Tell me Sydney, are you working for yourself or the CIA?"

Sydney grimaced and shook her head, "The CIA knows nothing about this, you know nothing about this. The Covenant is gone and I am making sure that it remains that way."

Lazarey nodded slowly and looked her up and down, his haunted eyes measuring her worth. She was the woman and his own adherence to the mythology dictated that he help her. Still, he wondered what he might gain from this.

"What are you preparing to offer me in exchange, Ms. Bristow?" 

Sydney grimaced and seemed to be weighing her options in her mind before nodding and bringing her hand from behind her back. There was a thick file clutched in it, and he frowned as he accepted it from her.

"I know your son," Sydney said softly. Lazarey snapped to attention, staring at her and then ripping open the file in his hand.

"Julian Sark, born Julian Lazarey, is a known terrorist. He has been on the CIA's most wanted list for several years, only now have we finally taken him into custody."

Lazarey was stunned by this information, there on the first page was a picture of his son glaring up at him through the glossy paper. He could not believe how much Julian resembled him at his age. He had missed so much, given up hope that he would ever find his son alive.

"How..." Lazarey shook his head and glanced up at Sydney, brow creasing in confusion. "How did you know that he was my son?"

Sydney's expression hardened but he could see her eyes soften slightly, "There are many things that I know, Mr. Lazarey, that you may not expect. I have given you information that you have been searching over twenty years for. I want the keys."

Lazarey gazed down at the photograph of Sark and swallowed hard. He had every reason to doubt all of this, but there was truth in every word that Sydney spoke. He had learned well how to decipher the truth between a myriad of lies, but this woman gave him no deception. The sigh of his son made his heart ache, he was the spitting image of Lazarey himself at such a young age. So young and already such a terror to the world, Lazarey could only imagine what kind of things he had done. He had the feeling that he would find all those answers and more in the contents of this file.

"I want to see him," Lazarey whispered. Sydney remained where she was, unmoving and awaiting his decision.

"First, you give me the keys. Then we will strike a deal."

Lazarey closed the folder and looked up at her, an faint smile crossing his face. He could sense her stubborn nature and knew that even if he did not agree, she would get the keys one way or another.

"I think we have a deal already, Sydney."

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Vaughn was waiting in a car outside of the house, one hand gripped the steering wheel, the other gripped the hilt of his gun in its holster. His knuckles were beginning to turn white from the tension, a dozen paranoid scenarios running through his head as he waited for Sydney to return. He did not like the thought of her going in alone, but he had to remember that she had done this once before. She could do it again.

At that moment, she appeared outside the car door, emerging from the shadows as a dark shape that took on life of its own. He opened the door for her and she eased into the passenger seat. A thick metal box was nestled in her arms and she smiled brightly at the sight of him.

"All taken care of," she inclined her head toward the box and chuckled at the sight of the gun clenched tightly in his hand. "Put it away, Vaughn. We're safe for now."

He blew out a sigh of relief and grinned at her as he relaxed his grip, his smile faded as he glanced at the box. "What are we going to do with them."

"Simple," Sydney said as she opened the box and examined the keys. "They're metal, we melt them down. Make a nice ashtray out of them or something."

Vaughn shook his head as he started the car and pulled out, "You don't smoke, Syd."

She shrugged and ran her fingers along the edge of one key, the teeth tearing at her skin. "So we'll give it to my dad, I think that he smokes cigars every now and then."

"I thought that cigars were only for new fathers in fifties movies," Vaughn frowned and Sydney laughed. 

"Or Grandfathers," she mused with a glint of mischief in her eyes. Vaughn grinned and glanced at her with a shake of his head.

"One thing at a time," he told her. "First we have to finish saving the world before we can have any kids. Imagine how much less time to have to save the world when we have children?" Sydney laughed at this, a full throated laugh that resounded throughout the car and left Vaughn grinning like a fool.

"You know what we're going to do after this?" Vaughn asked, a smile playing across his lips. Sydney couldn't help but grin faintly at the enthusiasm in his voice. He had been changed as much as she had, more dangerous and smarter than before but he had regained a sense of childish joy about simple things that made her heart leap. It seemed that most things about her made him ridiculously happy these days, rather than worried. They had been through too much together, they both knew that they could not lose each other now.

"What?" Sydney asked, she had a good idea of what they would be doing after this but she decided to play along anyway. It was worth it just to see the happiness on his face.

Vaughn grinned, "We're taking that trip to Santa Barbara. I think that we definitely deserve it, after all this time."

Sydney gazed at him, a soft smile on her face. They more than deserved it, they needed it. There was still so much confusion that lingered in both of their heads that had been pushed aside for the moment until it could be sorted out. They deserved a new beginning together, a time to be together without worry of getting caught or killed at any possible moment.

"You still have our hotel booked?" She asked.

"Yup," Vaughn was obviously pleased with himself and she grinned.

"I think I might just take you up on that offer, Agent Vaughn." Her soft chuckle subsided to a sigh as she glanced out the window and remembered where they were. She watched the scenery drift past the window as they sped over empty roads. The world blurred in her vision and she turned her gaze back to Vaughn. He was the one clear thing she knew.

He sensed her shift in mood and glanced over at her, one hand sneaking over to grip hers tightly. "You sure you want to do this, Syd?"

She swallowed hard and nodded, "I need some sort of closure, Vaughn." He squeezed her hand and bringing it to his lips, placed a gentle kiss on the palm without moving his eyes from the road. With a sigh, she leaned her forehead against the cold glass of the window. Her eyes struggled to catch up with the swiftly moving scenery, but she couldn't keep them focused for too long. Vaughn's hand rested on her thigh, where her fingers occasionally danced in and out of his grasp. Her breath steamed against the glass, distorting the world beyond and clouding her vision. She did not need to see the familiar shape of the land or the twisting road to know where they were headed. The images were fading, but one still remained. She had to face this memory, or let it kill her.

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	18. The Last Promise

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Chapter Eighteen:

The Last Promise

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The moon was wrapped in a blanket of clouds, thin streams of light occasionally breaking free to slant through the windows. The room was filled with a warm glow from lamplight that spilled across the woman sitting at the table. Her head bent, she leaned over the thick piece of parchment that stretched across the desk before her. She was studying intently, eyes fixated on the sprawling script that flowed across the page. 

There was a tension in her body, though she appeared at ease. She was a woman who had lived on the edge of a knife for years and was prepared to spring at a moment's notice. She heard and saw everything around her, nothing escaped her attention. Which is why she ignored the silent alarms that blinked up at her when she saw who her intruders were. She paid no heed to the distant sounds of footsteps approaching. She remained poised on the edge, attention rapt upon the paper. It was the click of the gun that finally brought her attention from the Rambaldi manuscript to face the woman who stood before her. She had heard her enter quietly but had not responded, waiting until the moment Sydney stood before her to look up.

Irina brushed a stray lock of hair behind her ear and leaned back in her chair, studying her daughter casually. She was not at all intimidated by the gun that her daughter was leveling with her head, nor by the man who stood in the shadows by the door. A crooked smile broke across her face and she studied her daughter intently.

"Sydney, what a pleasant surprise," Irina moved to clear the papers from the desk but Sydney shook her head and moved closer. The gun was clenched in her hand, steady and prepared to be used but they both knew that Sydney would not kill her. That was not why she was there.

"Keep your hands where I can see them," Sydney ordered. Her voice was cold, her eyes hard, but underneath Irina could sense something lurking. Sydney was not afraid, she seemed tired, world weary. 

Irina folded her hands on the desk without responding, making it clear that it was her decision to do as her daughter asked. "Should I even bother asking how you found me and got in past my guards?" Her eyes flickered to Vaughn in the corner, he was watching her intently, eyes gleaming in the shadows. "And why you came with only Agent Vaughn as your backup?"

Sydney grit her teeth and shook her head, "I have done a lot of things that you might not expect from me, mother." Irina narrowed her eyes, there was a tremble in Sydney's voice as she spoke. A knowledge hidden in her eyes, the gleam of which Irina recognized all too well. 

"I will be the one asking the questions," Sydney informed her. Her knuckles were turning white from her grip on the gun and Irina shook her head. 

"I see," she gestured toward the gun in Sydney's hand. "At least put the gun down and sit, Sydney. I'm not going to hurt you."

Sydney narrowed her eyes and reluctantly flipped the gun around in her hand, sliding it back into its holster. With her other hand, she signaled Vaughn in the corner. He opened his jacket and slid his hand onto the pommel of his own gun, waiting at the ready, in case Sydney should need him. Irina watched this exchange with calculating eyes, measuring the distance between them and the intimacy with which they spoke without words. Something had happened to them, that much was clear to Irina. Something drastic had changed their lives.

Sydney took a seat in the chair across from Irina and leaned forward, staring intently into her mother's eyes. "I need information on a Rambaldi device," she informed her. 

Irina was hardly surprised, but given the circumstances, she wondered at why her daughter was coming to her for help. "Why come to me?" She asked.

Sydney scoffed, "You've always known more about Rambaldi than you've let on. I need all the information on this device that you can give me."

Irina frowned, her gaze wandering to Vaughn in the corner. She analyzed his position, wondered how fast it would take him to reach her if she were to reach out and grab Sydney. "What makes you think that I'll give you any information on Rambaldi."

Sydney slapped her palm against the wood of the desk and Irina's eyes snapped back to her. No one moved or breathed, Irina saw Vaughn's grip on the gun tighten out of the corner of her eye. She knew then that he would kill her given the slightest chance, not that it would be easy to do. Yet, if Sydney wished it, Irina's life would be forfeit.

"This is not about the CIA," Sydney's words were a low hiss, filled with meaning. "This about my life."

Irina studied her daughter quietly, her mind whirling to put together the pieces of what she was seeing. Sydney was different from the last time Irina had seen her which had only been a few weeks earlier, in Mexico City. There was a deep wisdom in her eyes, a new set to her shoulders. She had the look of a woman who had been carrying a heavy burden for too long and was only beginning to let it go.

"What device are you seeking?" Irina asked, her eyes remained steady on Sydney's, searching for the truth in her daughter's gaze. 

Sydney did not blink, she did not flinch as she spoke the words that Irina had not expected to hear. "I don't know what its called, all I know is that it is a gateway of red stone."

Irina stifled a soft gasp but Sydney heard it. Irina's eyes widened slightly and she stared at her daughter. "Tempus Denuo... You have used it."

Sydney did blink this time, her eyes clouding with doubt. "What?"

Irina shook her head and gazed at her daughter, something akin to awe in her expression. "You didn't think that you could hide something like this from me, now did you?" She grinned wryly and leaned closer, reaching one hand out to touch her daughter's face and inspect what she found. 

"You have the look in your eyes," Irina informed her as she inspected her with gentle fingertips. For a moment she was the mother she had once been, checking Sydney for bruises of a more internal nature.

"Your voice is different, your techniques have changed. Your eyes tell me that you are harboring some deep secrets," Irina smiled. "You have the wisdom of Rambaldi in you. This machine has changed you." Irina shook her head, "The only way that you could know of the gateway is if you have used it, Sydney. It is called Tempus Denuo, a time travelling device. No one has spoken of this particular Rambaldi invention in hundreds of years, so great is its power."

Sydney's gaze lowered and Vaughn stepped free of the shadows, coming to her side in a swift movement that escaped Irina's notice until he stood before her. He touched Sydney's shoulder gently and she looked up at him, her eyes exchanging some secret information that Irina could only wonder about.

Irina's gaze was instantly fixed to the man before her, the darkness that lingered in him, the way the shadows seemed to cling to him. The light in his eyes, the truth of Rambaldi.

"You have both used the gateway." Irina stated it as fact this time, she could not question it any longer. She was certain, deep inside, that this was the case.

"If you know what the gateway is," Vaughn's voice was low but filled with an authority she had not heard from him before. "If you know what it does, then you know that it will do no good to ask about it."

This statement was more than enough proof for Irina who stood up from her desk. Instantly, she found herself staring down the barrel of Vaughn's gun. Her gaze slid up the length of black metal to meet his eyes in a silent challenge. She was startled by what she saw there. In all of her previous encounters with this man, she had seen only a smoldering hatred in his eyes when he brought them to her gaze. He had rarely looked into her eyes, unwilling to face the woman who had stolen his father's life. Now he gazed at her without hesitation, without hatred, there was only a fierce determination in his eyes and a muted glow of love. Love of Sydney. Irina was somewhat satisfied to know that she had been right all along about this man. He would do anything for Sydney, it was both his strength and his weakness. 

"I cannot help but wonder," Irina was unfazed by the gun in her face, the smell of gunpowder that rose thickly from it. "What I did for the two of you that made you think I would help you? What made you so desperate that you had to come to me?" Irina's eyes narrowed and she waited for her words to sink in before she asked, softly, "What did you sacrifice... and how far back did you come?

Vaughn did not respond, but Irina could see the flicker of guilt that flared in his eyes. Sydney stood and slid one hand down Vaughn's arm until her hand wrapped around where his clutched the gun. Gently she eased his hand down to his side and looked up at him. His eyes were drawn to her gaze instantly, Irina momentarily excluded from their private world.

"Two years," was Sydney's quiet response to her mother's question. "We gave up everything to get our lives back," her hand tightened imperceptibly on Vaughn's and she shifted her gaze from him to Irina. "You helped us then, we need you to help us now."

Irina studied the two of them intently, reading the truth in every line of their face, every inflection of their voice. She had been studying Rambaldi her entire adult life, and in the matter of a few years, her daughter had gained the wisdom that had taken her mother a lifetime to earn. Sydney had done it the hardest way possible, by being the subject of the Rambaldi's prophecies. She had been chosen to live through experiences that would kill anyone weaker.

"Tempus Denuo can only be opened by Rambaldi's chosen," Irina informed her. "However, once it is opened, it remains so until someone else passes through. If more than one person pass through at a time, then the gateway self-destructs."

Vaughn frowned and exchanged a knowing glance with Sydney. "Why does it self-destruct?"

Irina shook her head, "I do not know. I have investigated Tempus Denuo, but like most Rambaldi artifacts, what is known is not very much. It was one of Rambaldi's most ambitious inventions, many debate on whether or not it is his greatest power. The notion of time travel was one that Rambaldi was fond of, as well as immortality and technology. Tempus Denuo was one of Rambaldi's last inventions, but he never completed it. It was completed by the first members of the Mythic Order of Rambaldi who may have planned on using it, but never did. It was hidden and has not been unearthed for hundreds of years."

Sydney frowned, "What would happen if two people did enter the gateway simultaneously and it was destroyed?"

Irina shook her head and replied with a slight shrug of her shoulders, "I cannot know that, I've never seen had the chance to analyze it, but I would assume that they would be killed." She narrowed her eyes, "Which the two of you obviously are not."

Sydney unconsciously laced her fingers through Vaughn's, he squeezed her hand reassuringly. "No we're not," she said. Her eyes were clouded and she seemed more perplexed by this than before. Irina's heart went out to her daughter, she could only imagine what the circumstances in that life had been that had led to the decision to use the gateway. Sydney was stronger than she knew.

Irina folded her arms across her chest and frowned, deep in thought. "Well, there are many Rambaldi mysteries that still cannot be explained. However, it is possible that Vaughn was able to pass through unharmed because the two of you are so connected."

Vaughn bowed his head and Irina smiled as Sydney looked up from him to her mother. Irina just shook her head, "There are some things that a mother knows, even before the child knows."

Sydney smiled softly and nodded, one tender hand touched Vaughn's back as she rose to her feet. He nodded at her wordlessly and stepped back. Sydney stood before her mother, meeting her gaze easily. The two woman were mirror images of one another, dark hair tucked behind the ear, eyes filled with shadow and fire and a gleam of ancient knowledge, arms crossed as they contemplated one another. The mother and the child of prophecy.

At length Sydney let herself go, she dropped her walls, let her arms open and embraced her mother tightly. Irina's eyes welled up with tears as she felt the strength of her daughter crushing her tightly.

"I love you, Sydney."

There was a muffled sob against her shoulder where Sydney's head was buried, "I don't want to lose you again." She whispered.

Irina's eyes darkened as she considered the meaning of Sydney's words, it was then that she knew she had to give Sydney the information she requested. For many years, Irina had been working to protect her daughter from the prophecies that would rule her life. Now, Sydney was trying to protect her. The world had been flipped upside down, control was slipping from her grasp, but Irina could only be grateful for her daughter's act of love.

Sydney drew back to Vaughn's side, releasing her mother from her tight grip. She met Irina's gaze with tear-filled eyes and struggled to harden herself. "Promise me one thing," Sydney asked softly.

"What is it?"

Sydney smiled sadly, "Promise me that you'll contact Dad."

Irina was startled, eyes widening with surprise. "What?"

"You still love him, and in another life the two of you had crossed a bridge and made amends. All I ask is that you find the bridge."

Irina frowned doubtfully and shook his head, "I don't know how much he'll appreciate that."

"A time will come," Sydney informed her. "When he'll need your help, he'll need to trust you. I just want that to be possible."

Irina smiled sadly, "Your father is a stubborn man, Sydney."

Sydney grinned, "I know, but so are you." She squeezed her mother's hand one last time before letting it go. 

Vaughn smirked and looked between the two of them, "It must run in the family," he commented. Sydney turned to him with a clever retort on her lips that died when she saw the sparkle in his eyes. Instead she shook her head and said, "You know that you love it."

Vaughn's smirk softened in a loving smile and he nodded, "I do."

Irina withdrew from the moment to cross the room and open a large safe hidden behind an old Rambaldi painting. Shuffling through the papers there, she retrieved several sheets and brought them to Sydney.

"This is all the information I have regarding Tempus Denuo, but Sydney," Irina clasped her hand over her daughter's as she placed the folder into it. "You cannot let this information fall into the wrong hands. If the gateway does exist and you know where it can be found, you will be in great danger. You must make sure that it is never discovered."

Sydney nodded in understanding, before flipping briefly through the folder's contents. Brow furrowing, she glanced back up to Irina. "Aren't you curious as to where it is? How you might find it?"

"Of course I am," Irina smiled and shook her head. "But I am not willing to sacrifice your life in order to obtain it, Sydney... Or mine." Irina touched her daughter's cheek softly and kissed her on the forehead.

"Thank you," Sydney whispered, she handed the folder to Vaughn who deposited it into a slim bag that was slung over one shoulder. When he glanced up, he found himself staring into Irina's eyes as she watched him curiously. His jaw tightened and he met her gaze without trepidation. Instead he did something Irina did not expect, he lifted his left hand and pressed a fist to his chest, fingers flicking outward. It was an old hand code that Irina had devised long ago that meant danger had been averted, something that she had obviously taught to him in this other life that would now never occur. She found herself regretting the fact that she had missed her chance to study this young man, train him to fully become a spy. 

Irina grinned and made a similar motion that was the proper response to such a salutation and Vaughn smiled gently, bowing his head to Irina and backing away. Sydney made a slight gesture with one hand and Vaughn vanished out the door, securing their exit.

Sydney stood facing her mother, looking at her as if for the first time. She spent a moment, memorizing the subtle details of her mother's face. The movements, the features that made them so much alike. The little things that she had missed and thought that she would never know again when she had died. 

In the back of her mind, hovered the memory of that stray bullet that had been meant for Vaughn as it missed him and slammed into her mother's back. She could still see the sight of Irina slumping down over Jack, head landing on his chest as her last gasp of breath escaped her chest. As Irina turned now, to meet Sydney's eyes, the image finally faded from her view and she saw only her mother before her. A duplicitous woman, a brilliant spy, a once loving wife and an always protective mother. That was Irina Derevko, Sydney no longer wanted her any other way, as long as she knew that she was alive.

Sydney reached out to pull her mother into one last embrace and swallowed the lump of tears that had risen in her throat, "I love you, Mom."

Irina shut her eyes and let the words settle into her soul, freeing her heart from a cage of self imposed detachment. She swallowed her tears and felt Sydney pull away, quiet feet padding across the floor.

When she opened her eyes once more, she was alone.

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	19. When The Clouds Clear

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Epilogue:

When The Clouds Clear

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Darkness lingered in his dreams.

Shadows crept over his thoughts, memories that haunted him slowly faded away into darkness. It was only when he awoke to find Sydney beside him that the clouds cleared, and his world was filled with light again.

This morning, he woke in an unfamiliar bed where the warmth of her still lingered on his skin. But she was not beside him, the sun spilled across the empty space where she had once been. The sheets, still rumpled from her body, glowed in the light, as if she left traces of her energy upon them. He sat up slowly, the slow weight that had eased from his shoulders returned and he frowned as he glanced around the room. 

"Sydney?" He called her name, his voice echoing off empty walls but her own did not resound with it. He slid to his feet, a knot of anxiety forming in his gut as he pulled on clothes. He headed through the house, the warmth of the sun fading from his flesh and leaving him chilled without her presence. 

Bare feet hit warm sand as he fought the lurking fear that she was gone, that it had all been a dream. His throat tightened as he looked out over the horizon, his body moving without conscious thought. Her name was tangled on his lips, unable to be spoken through the fear that he was choking back. One hand came to shield his eyes against the glare of the rising sun and the brilliance of the water that reflected it.

Then he saw her, seated at the edge of the ocean, idle fingers tracing patterns into the sand. Her knees were tucked up against her chest, head cradled on her arm as she gazed out into the horizon. He did not know what she was saw slipping in and out of the rays of sun that glittered off of the water. Soft blue waves washed up before her but never seemed to touch, she seemed to be a sentinal, guarding the light of the dawn. She was guarding the essence of life, the warmth, the illumination of the light. 

The fear seeped from his heart, like water draining from a jar and he stopped in his tracks. He watched her. The slender curve of her back, the grace of her arm draped across the sand, the way her hair ruffled in the gentle breeze. He memorized the sight, every line of her body, every ray of sunlight, every grain of sand and breathed a sigh of relief.

He approached quietly from behind, his footprints mingling with hers until their shadows touched and merged together. She turned her head slightly, he could see the smile playing across her lips as she became aware of him. Easing down beside her, he wrapped one arm around her wait. He pressed a kiss to her bare shoulder, where the shoulder of the shirt draped off of her. He grinned and plucked at the cloth.

"Why is it that my clothes look better on you?" He asked as he brought his lips up to hers. She smiled into his kiss and broke away with a soft chuckle.

"I bet some of my clothes would look pretty good on you," Sydney smirked and Vaughn shook his head.

"I would never wear them as well," His words ended abruptly as her arm snaked around to pull his lips to hers once more, drowning out the end of his sentence.

She pulled away, her head resting briefly against his forehead in a union of minds. He ran his fingers through her hair, soft brown strands curling around his fingers. She breathed out a quiet sigh, and turned her eyes back to the horizon.

There was a bittersweet sadness in her eyes, he could see it beneath the gleam of the morning light. He understood what it meant, he knew it all too well. The memories that had shrouded him in a veil of mourning for over two years were now haunting her. As he began to let them go, she could not help but cling to them. It was the only way she could know that it had been real, that she was not mad. He smoothed one hand across her skin, rested his chin on her shoulder, and waited for her to speak.

At length she eased her feet out into the sand, and leaned slightly against him, her arm coming up around his back. "I can still see it, Vaughn."

He nodded and with a gentle touch, eased his hand into hers. "I know," he murmured softly. "So can I."

Sydney turned to look at him and now he could see the shimmer of tears in her eyes, beneath the light, it was like the sun on the ocean. "There is some cruel irony here," she smiled through the pain. That was his Sydney, always putting on a brave face, even despite her own sadness. 

"I spent so long trying to remember those two years I had lost. Only to regain the memories, once the years never happened." Her fingers dug into the warmth of the sand, finding the cool soil beneath. The many layers of the shore, the billions of grains of sand spread before her, the waves that brushed her skin, she was a part of it all. She turned her eyes away from him, blinding herself to the images in her mind.

"Sometimes, I don't know what is real and what is a dream," Sydney whispered. "I wake up and I'm in a dark cell somewhere and I think that I was never on this beach with you. I am convinced that it has all been a hallucination," she bit her lip and he saw her face contort as she struggled to hold back the tears. "Then I wake up in bed, beside you and I am convinced that I am dreaming," she shook her head, strands of loose hair lashing her face. 

"I just want to know what's real," her words were a broken sob that cracked open the wounds in Vaughn's heart. He swallowed the growing lump in his throat and wrapped his arms around her, crushing her to him, her sobs muffled by his bare skin.

Vaughn shut his eyes, knowing better than anyone could, how much those memories pained her. 

"I'm real," he murmured into her ear. He gripped her hand and pressed it against the bare skin of his chest, where his heart beat rapidly. "This is real, Syd. Our love is real." Gently he eased up and placed his hands on her waist, turning her to face him. Her eyes no longer blinded by the sun, were dark as they gazed into his. He took her hands into his and firmly laced their fingers together, holding onto her as he spoke.

"They are horrible, painful memories Sydney. But we have been given a second chance, to start over, to keep it all from happening." He gripped her hands tightly and gazed at her, overwhelmed by his fierce devotion to this woman. A love that no longer had to be smothered by a sense of duty.

"We passed a test, proved our love." He smiled and brought her hands up to his lips, planting a soft kiss on the skin. "Saved lives, prevented a bunch of evil terroristic monks from taking over the world." She couldn't help but laugh at his words. 

Nodding, she met his gaze and smiled gently. The darkness was clearing from her eyes and he could see her resurfacing. They had lived for two years as completely different people. They had been strangers even to one another after they had each endured so much pain. Only now could they return to who they had once been and rebuild themselves without ghosts lingering over their heads. 

"This world seems so different now," Sydney shook her head. "I woke up in Hong Kong, a different person. The last thing I remembered was passing out in my apartment. Then I wake up in my apartment, and I'm a different person." She swallowed hard.

"I don't know who I am anymore," she whispered. Her voice was small beneath the roar of the waves, the rustle of the wind, the voices in her memory. She was lost, she was afraid, but she was not alone.

Vaughn cupped her face in his hands and turned her eyes to meet his, "You are Sydney Bristow," he reassured her. "You are the strongest person I have ever known," gently he leaned forward and pressed his forehead to her temple. "You're my soulmate," he whispered. 

Her fingers traced a pattern across his chest before she brought her arms up around his neck. "I love you," she whispered. 

"I love you," he spoke the words into her as his lips found hers. She breathed them in and with the strength he gave her, found the hope that had drowned in the tide of memory. 

Vaughn shook his head and turned his eyes to the ocean, "I don't think I could have ever imagined it." She gazed at him, with knowing eyes that drank him in slowly.

"I never believed in Rambaldi," he could not seem to fathom that concept now, after everything that had happened to him. His mind had been opened, his soul made aware of something higher than himself at work. Fate had brought both of them here. 

"I never would have thought that something like this was even possible," He grinned at her and squeezed her hands. "But then when I met you, a lot of impossible things began to happen."

She smiled, "Name one impossible thing I've done."

He leaned over and kissed her softly, "You made me believe."

Sydney felt heat rush through her, his words softly whispered across her skin. She cupped his face in her hands and sighed. "In what?"

He smiled and it was like the waves finally breaking over her skin, cleansing the stains of her soul. "In you."

Sydney shut her eyes and fell against him, arms coming around to circle his neck as her face buried into the warmth of his bare skin. His arms wrapped her up in him and a deep sigh spilled from his lips onto her skin, filled with relief at the feel of her in his arms. She pressed a kiss to his skin and nestled her head against him, to find the horizon before her again.

The rays of sunlight that danced off the waters still reflected in the depths of her memory, sparking images that had been carried over from another life. A life that she would never have to live. She closed her eyes and could still see it all in her mind, but the colors were not as vibrant. The sounds were not as sharp. She knew now that the memories would fade, the pain would dissipate but the experiences would always be with her. They had made her older, wiser, stronger. They had shown her true quality, made her believe in the power that she held within herself.

When she opened her eyes, she saw only Vaughn. He was her future, her past, and embodied everything that she fought for. Innocence lost and the regained, beauty, truth, freedom and love.

Slowly, she pushed herself up off the sand. Vaughn watched her with quiet eyes as she rose to her feet, his hand squeezing her's once more before letting go. He sat on the sand, bare chest gleaming like gold in the morning light, the light haloing around him. He was her guardian angel, keeping watch over her even when she did not know it.

Sydney turned her eyes to the ocean and smiled. Stripping off the t-shirt that she had stolen from Vaughn, she closed her eyes and let herself go. Running full force into the ocean, she let the waves wash over her bare flesh. A shrill cry of happy surprise rose from her throat and behind her, she could hear Vaughn laughing. She smiled and joined in his laughter, letting the waves wash over her flesh as she tread deeper into the water. The cold water bit at her flesh but the warmth of the sun held her in its grasp and she knew no fear. Diving into the water, she resurfaced on the other side, allowing herself to flow with the waves. The ocean is a constant force on the planet, sustaining all life, moving with the flow of the universe. It has a steady ebb and flow like emotions that run high and then low again. Sydney let her emotions go with the ocean, flow through her like water. She laughed through her tears, transforming pain into pleasure, sorrow into bliss. The waves crashed over her solid form, washing her clean of all the shadows in her mind. She would always live with them, but they would never taint her light.

Strong arms gripped her around the waist and she let out a shriek of laughter as Vaughn lifted her into his arms and swung her around. Waves leapt high around them, surrounding them in a wall of water where they stood motionless and outside of all time. The sparkle in his eyes made her soul come back to life, the grip of his fingers on her skin awakening every nerve that had been dulled by the pain. She was alive once more.

Vaughn pulled her close to his chest and she wrapped her arms lazily around his neck. Resting her head comfortably in the crook of his shoulder, she let out a deep sigh and smiled into his skin. He shook his head and she could feel a deep thunder of laughter resonating from his chest.

"Thank you," he whispered. She heard his words above the rush of water, she could hear his voice anywhere. 

"For what, exactly?" She asked as he strode from the water and back up the shore toward the house. She shifted her position to gaze up into his eyes. He stopped in his tracks, instantly transfixed by the love that he found shining up at him. 

"For saving me," he whispered.

Sydney shook her head, "We saved ourselves, Vaughn. We saved each other, we always do."

He placed a gentle kiss onto her forehead, and she snuggled closer to him as he strode back into the house.

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When he awoke again, the sun was dipping lower on the horizon. Warm afternoon light drifted in through the open window. Outside, the sound of waves crashing onto shore resonated over empty dunes. Sydney lay beside him, naked and bare to his eyes. She was curled up against the warmth of his body, head tucked under his chin, her hands folded as if in prayer. He smiled at the sight of her, and as he smoothed one loving hand across her back, he realized that the weight had gone from his shoulders. There was no further darkness in his thoughts upon awakening, he did not fear what he would find when his eyes opened. He knew that she would be there. 

Sydney's eyes blinked slowly open, eyelashes fluttering against his skin and he smiled at the sensation. Kissing the top of her head, he stroked her back gently and let out a sigh of contentment.

"I'm not afraid anymore," she whispered. Tilting her head to meet his gaze, she was surprised to see tears shimmering there. But they were not tears of sadness, there was a profound joy in her eyes that she finally understood. She felt it too.

"If it ever returns," Vaughn whispered, tracing his fingers along the contours of her face. "If you're ever afraid or if the memories returns to haunt you, know that I'll be here. I'm always going to be here." He smiled softly and kissed her forehead. "When you need me to see you through the storm, I'll be with you, until the clouds clear."

Sydney smiled, unable to find words that could adequately express her gratitude, her love for him. She snuggled closer to him and kissed the hollow of his throat, murmuring inaudible thanks against his flesh. He grinned and drew her closer to him. Leaning his forehead against hers, he drew the covers up around them and cocooned them in a private world of their own love.

While all the world around them may become unrecognizable and changed, one thing would always remain true. The bond that connected them was stronger than all chains of sorrow or pain, more profound than despair or desperation. Their love had survived death, betrayal and the boundaries of time. They were more powerful in their union together than they ever had been apart, it was only now that they truly knew that. 

The darkness that had blanketed each of them for so long had finally given way to light. They alone knew of the dark times that would never come to pass, of the power that they had held in their hands and of the power that they know possessed together. None of it mattered, not the darkness, not the power, nor the prophecies. None of it mattered because they were strong enough to withstand anything that might come their way from here on in. They were strong enough because they were together. Love is a power far greater than anger, revenge, greed or mythology. They knew that now.

They had been given a second chance, a choice to change their destinies and they had accepted it. They had chosen one another, they had chosen life.

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Fin.

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End file.
